1876 RECEIVE NEWS FROM HOME. 175 



young ice formed, or had we had coal to spare, I 

 would certainly have visited Littleton Island and 

 Port Foulke. 



The officers and men of the ' Alert ' and 4 Dis- 

 covery ' can scarcely feel sufficiently grateful to Sir 

 Allen Young and his companions for their determined 

 and persevering efforts to open communication with 

 them during two seasons. Sacrificing so great a part 

 of the short navigable season of 1875 and paying 

 two visits to the Cary Islands on our account alone, 

 when Sir Allen's purpose was to explore in a totally 

 different direction, was stretching a friendly action to 

 the utmost. Such consideration can only be fully 

 appreciated by persons situated as we were. 



It was past ten in the evening when Markham and 

 Feilden returned from the shore of Cape Isabella. 

 When the boat came alongside, and we learnt that 

 they had found a mail, the feelings of all on board 

 are not to be easily described. A year and more with- 

 out hearing from home or friends, or the outer 

 world, is a long gap in our short lives. What changes 

 may have occurred in that interval ! All of us 

 seemed to be impressed with this thought, and after 

 the first exclamations of pleasure and surprise not a 

 word was spoken until the mail-bags were sorted and 

 the lucky ones received their budgets of news ; along 

 with the mail was a large number of newspapers 

 which to some extent consoled those who were not the 

 fortunate recipients of letters. 



After our long sojourn within the Polar ice it was 

 a strange transition to feel the ship rise and fall once 

 more on the ' north water ' of Baffin's Bay, and to look 



