ICE-BOUND. 355 



smaller Baillie Islands, observed upon it twenty tents, 

 surrounded by Esquimaux, who took to their boats 

 and surrolmded us in crowds, with shouts and screams 

 of delight. Indeed our visit appeared to cause quite 

 a festival. The elders of the party warned us that 

 we should find no passage, but they nevertheless lent 

 their aid in guiding us towards the Cape, leading 

 the way in their kiaks, and sounding with their 

 paddles to indicate the channel, for here shoals 

 run out a long distance from the mainland towards 

 the islands. Gaining with difficulty, by tortuous 

 winding through heavy masses of rugged ice, a 

 position on the. northern side of the spit lying under 

 the Cape, we had a full view of the impossibility 

 of a present advance, — • 



■ The ice was here, the ice was there, 

 The ice was all around." 



Pressing down upon the shore of the island, upon the 

 spit, the Cape, and into Franklin Bay, it spread thence 

 to seaward in masses heaped tumultuously, sparkling 

 and shimmering in the sunshine, each crystallised point 

 evolving hues of the prism. Not a lane, not a 

 breach appeared ; a barrier as of stone lay between us 

 and our desired route. We remained in the neigh- 

 bourhood for several days, watching if perhaps a 



A A 2 



