74 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. July 



6 Many pieces of drift-wood have been met with, 

 particularly in the bays open towards the north-west ; 

 but only in one such favoured locality, where the 

 drift would naturally collect after getting into the eddy 

 current to the eastward of Cape Joseph Henry, was 

 there sufficient for Egerton to have supplied his sledge 

 with firewood. 



' It is somewhat remarkable that the wood is only 

 found near the margin of the sea and in the lake-beds : 

 it would appear that if left exposed it rots away, but 

 when buried below the frozen muddy soil it remains 

 undecayed for ages. 



' Naturally where the wood has collected in the 

 largest quantities ice-borne rocky boulders are also 

 found on the shore. 



' In Hilgard Bay, open to the north-west, Mr. 

 Egerton reports : — 



' " On the eastern shore of the inner part of this bay 

 there were great quantities of drift-wood, pieces of all 

 sizes, varying from fifteen feet in length to a foot, but 

 apparently all of the same description. Most of the 

 pieces were lying on the surface, but some were 

 slightly covered with soil. I found pieces forty feet 

 above the -level of the water. One tree, lying close 

 above the water's edge, was about fifteen feet long 

 and twelve inches in diameter at its thickest part. 

 The shore was generally covered with shells to a 

 height of twenty feet above the level of the water, but 

 in places considerably higher. All the shells were of 

 one or two kinds. On the north-east point of the bay, 

 I came upon a pile of- rocks which looked like an old 

 ruin about forty feet above the level of the sea. Upon 



