70 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. August 



permit men to cross from oue ship to the other. 

 During the night the weather was calm, and the ships 

 drifted slowly backwards and forwards at the mercy 

 of the tidal current, but in the main in an easterly 

 direction. 



On the 6th, with the ebb-tide the ships drifted 

 to the southward towards the open water near the 

 shore. In the expectation of obtaining a good view 

 of the strait, Captain Stephenson and I landed by 

 dragging a boat over the ice to the water. A number 

 of the officers also went to explore the neighbour- 

 hood, but kept within sight of the ships in case of 

 being recalled. Landing at nearly low- water we had 

 great difficulty in climbing up the steep and slippery 

 side of the ice-foot. From an ascent of 1,500 feet we 

 could not determine the continuation of Hayes Sound, 

 owing to the interposition of rocky islands ; but by 

 the trend of the mountain ranges the sound or fiord 

 may be assumed to run for a long distance to the 

 westward. There is apparently no water connection 

 with the opening north of Bache Island, unless a com- 

 munication exists far to the westward. On turning 

 to the eastward we had the great satisfaction of seeing 

 that the ice at the entrance of the sound was clearing 

 out, and that there would soon be a clear water- 

 passage between Cape Sabine and Cape Albert. We 

 accordingly hastened back to our boat, deciding to 

 push to the northward along the east shore of the so- 

 called Bache Island. 



Our sportsmen only obtained a single ptarmigan 

 {Lag opus rupestris)^ the first specimen procured by us 

 in Smith Sound. Insects were not uncommon, the 



