BARROW STRAITS. 153 



sistance" and " Intrepid" on the cape on the 23rd, 

 had found traces of an encampment and collected the 

 remains of materials, which evidently proved that 

 some party belonging to Her Majesty's ships had been 

 detained there. Traces of the same party were found 

 on Beechey Island. The note concludes by the 

 announcement that Captain Ommaney proceeds to 

 Capes Hotham and Walker, in search of further 

 traces of Sir John Franklin's Expedition. No 

 mention is made of the nature of the materials 

 collected; but the tenor of Captain Ommaney's 

 note indicates that he had no doubt of Captain 

 Franklin having been off Cape Riley. Lieutenant 

 De Haven, of the " Advance," landed on the cape 

 on the morning of the 25th, and erected a second 

 signal post, but seems to have carried nothing 

 away. Mr. Snow gathered and brought off five 

 pieces of beef, mutton, and pork bones, together 

 with a bit of rope, a small rag of canvass, and a 

 chip of wood cut by an axe. From a careful ex- 

 amination of the beef bones, I came to the conclu- 

 sion that they had belonged to pieces of salt-beef 

 ordinarily supplied to the Navy, and that probably 

 they and the other bones had been exposed to the 

 atmosphere and to friction in rivulets of melted 

 snow for four or five summers. The rope was 

 proved by the ropemaker who examined it to have 

 been made at Chatham of Hungarian hemp, subse- 



