1875 NORMAN LOCKYEE ISLAND. 85 



combined with tidal movement, would have opened 

 the ice, the delay in our advance was tantalizing ; and 

 with a few the ' social barometer ' commenced to fall 

 rapidly. I landed with an exploring party on Norman 

 Lockyer Island to obtain a view of the ice in the off- 

 ing. It was with great difficulty that we forced a 

 passage for the boat through the young ice which had 

 formed in sheltered places during the few previous 

 nights. 



The low part of the island, for some 300 feet above 

 the present sea-level, is a succession of raised beaches, 

 rising about twenty feet one above the other. The 

 rock, like the mainland, is a compact grey Silurian 

 limestone. On the summit, about 900 feet high, the 

 whole surface of the exposed rock is marked with ice- 

 scratchings in a north and south direction. 



Many ancient Eskimo traces were found near the 

 beach with great quantities of decayed seal and walrus 

 bones ; they were particularly plentiful near two small 

 freshwater ponds situated a short distance from the 

 beach. 



Before we left the summit the fog lifted sufficiently 

 to enable me to obtain a few bearings. Princess Marie 

 Bay was observed to be half clear of ice, and there 

 was a large pool of water off Cape Victoria, but none 

 towards the N.E. in the direction of Cape Hawks. 

 In the offing there was nothing to be seen but ice. A 

 record was left in a cairn on the summit of the island. 

 A few broods of eider ducks were feeding in the 

 shallow water between the island and Walrus Shoal, 

 the young birds being unable to fly. Three eider ducks, 

 three dovekies, and an Arctic tern were ' shot. On 



