1875 VIEW FROM HANNAH ISLAND. 109 



few patches of unmelted snow still remained. On the 

 one side the scenery was monotonous and dreary in the 

 extreme, on the other the many bright hues of the 

 stratified rocks varying from black to carmine shades, 

 and wreathed with patches of snow, looked warm and 

 cheerful by contrast. The valleys devoid of snow gave 

 promise of vegetation, and held forth visions of game. 

 Our finding in these latitudes any land uncovered by 

 ice or snow brought back to me remembrances of 

 Melville Island, and its abundant supplies of animal 

 life. It was, perhaps, the joyful feelings growing out 

 of our late success in gaining the more open water of 

 Kennedy Channel that gave birth to these highly 

 coloured reflections, for on a nearer approach to this 

 Grinnell Land shore the following year, the same 

 country appeared to our then more experienced and 

 critical eyes desolate in the extreme. 



From the summit of Hannah Island, some 120 feet 

 above high-water mark, I observed the loose ice we had 

 met in Kennedy Channel driving to the northward 

 before a strong southerly wind, and adding to the pack 

 accumulated in Hall Basin, thus giving us but a poor 

 prospect of an immediate advance. The weather being 

 clear we obtained from Hannah Island our first sight of 

 Grant Land, north of Cape Lieber. 



It was low- water at Bessels Bay at 10.40 p.m. ; the 

 ebb tidal current ceased at 10 p.m. ; at 11 p.m. the 

 flood -tide was setting in to the bay with sufficient 

 strength to swing the ships broadside to the wind. In 

 the water round us bird life was abundant, dozens of 

 dovekies nested in the steep limestone cliffs and were 





