98 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. Mat 



broken coast-line along which we had hitherto travelled 

 in a north-easterly direction, and, as the general direc- 

 tion of the land beyond was more easterly, this rnnst 

 have been onr highest northern point reached. Un- 

 fortunately, though we twice halted here, each time it 

 snowed heavily, and I was unable to get a meridian 

 altitude. With a crew reduced to six and a proba- 

 bility of my not being able to drag, which I had done 

 hitherto, I came to the conclusion that to do good 

 work in the wide field of operations opening before us 

 we must lighten the sledge at all cost ; so here, at this 

 point, which I called Cape Bryant, we left a depot, and 

 thus lightened started for Cape Fulford, which is the 

 north extremity of the line of cliffs on the west side of 

 St. George's Fiord. 



' In obedience to my orders it was necessary that I 

 should examine what appeared to be a deep inlet ; but 

 now that I was alone I felt that the utmost that I 

 could hope to do, and which seemed to me would be 

 of the most service, was to follow and ascertain the 

 direction of the mainland as far as I could, at the 

 same time taking every opportunity of ascending high 

 mountains to obtain the fullest information relative to 

 the off-lying islands, if such existed. Thus it was that, 

 after looking into St. George's Fiord, I pushed on 

 towards Dragon Point. The road across the mouth 

 of the Fiord, which was exposed to the north wind, 

 was very good (the only good bit we ever had), being- 

 hard and nearly level, and we did the nine miles with 

 ease and comparative pleasure. 



' Arrived at Dragon Point, we opened out another 

 wide reach of bays and fiords, and while debating in 



