10 PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 



land-marks and signal posts, to arrest the atten- 

 tion of the wanderers to the notes deposited 

 beneath, detailing the position of our abode, and 

 the means adopted for their relief. 



On the disruption of the ice in the following 

 spring, the expedition would again be on the 

 shores of the Polar Sea, and its researches 

 would be resumed in a different direction 

 from that previously taken. Every Esquimaux 

 hut would then be minutely inspected, in the 

 hope of finding some token of the fate of our 

 countrymen ; and the gratification which the 

 promoters of the expedition would experience, 

 should even a single British seaman be rescued 

 from his melancholy fate by their means, every 

 one felt would amply repay our utmost exertions. 

 While, even if no such happy fortune should 

 attend our researches, the geographical know- 

 ledge that must be obtained, and the scientific 

 information resulting from a course leading nearly 

 over one of the Magnetic Poles, would, it was 

 hoped, tend to console them. 



Such was the outline of the plan to be fol- 

 lowed, as regarded the humane and principal 

 object of our search ; and in the event of that 

 being rendered nugatory by the almost un- 

 looked for return of Captain Ross and his 

 gallant companions, or by any obstacle pre- 

 venting the progress of the expedition in the 



