1870 WESTERN SLEDGE JOURNEY. li 



the stationary ice and that in motion during the 

 summer, was observed to leave the coast at a point 

 about three miles west of Cape Joseph Henry, and to 

 pass a mile outside of the island, and apparently a 

 short distance outside of Cape Hecla. On the 19th 

 the Parry Peninsula, two and-a-half miles in breadth, 

 was crossed, and the shore of Clements Markham inlet 

 reached. From a height of 700 feet above the sea the 

 line of ice-hummocks was observed extending to the 

 westward in a line crossing the mouth of the inlet 

 towards Cape Colan with a level ice-floe to the south- 

 ward, which, like that in James Eoss Bay, never clears 

 out. Aldrich remarks in his official journal: — 'I 

 question if the ice ever breaks up altogether ; the 

 land south of Cape Colan is steep, and would seem 

 to indicate deep water.' With clear weather it was 

 apparent that no land extended to the northward of 

 Cape Columbia, and the travellers' hopes of attaining a 

 high northern latitude were greatly lessened. Towards 

 the south-west a misty atmosphere prevented the land 

 at the bottom of Markham inlet being distinguished. 



On the 22nd Cape Colan, the west point of the 

 inlet, was reached, and a depot of provisions left for 

 the return journey. The shore-hummocks extended in 

 a line parallel to the general direction of the land, but 

 at a distance of about three miles from the apparent 

 coast-line, leaving a fairly level sledge road along 

 shore, which, had it not been for the extremely soft 

 snow, would have permitted as rapid an advance as 

 arctic sledges farther south had usually made. The 

 snow continued soft as long as the coast-line was pro- 

 tected from the prevailing wind ; to the westward of 



