1876 POLARIS BAY. 339 



by a second gale from the same direction, with a great 

 deal of snow-drift, which confined them all to their 

 tents. The drift was so thick that, notwithstanding the 

 five tents were pitched close together, it was at times 

 impossible to communicate between them. 



On the 17th, Captain Stephenson and his party of 

 thirty officers and men recrossed the channel in seven- 

 teen marching hours, leaving Lieutenant Fnlford, Doc- 

 tor Coppinger, with two men and eight dogs, to explore 

 Petermann Fiord ; with orders to return to Polaris Bay 

 before the 15th of June, on which date it was ex- 

 pected they would meet Lieutenants Beaumont and 

 Eawson and their men, returning from the exploration 

 of North Greenland. 



The rock in the vicinity of Polaris Bay was found 

 to be a hard limestone containing no fossils, though 

 over the entire country fossiliferons drifted limestone 

 was scattered. Evidences of the recent elevation of the 

 land, in mud-beds rising to 500 feet and containing 

 marine shells, were abundant. Traces of fox, lemming, 

 hare, ptarmigan and snow-bunting were observed. 

 Eight flowering plants, the remains of last season's 

 growth, and some mosses and lichens, were collected. 



The ice-foot north of Cape Lupton was observed by 

 Captain Stephenson to be of a more massive construc- 

 tion, and the pack generally of a heavier description 

 than that on the western side of the channel. 



All the records, and articles brought from Polaris 

 Bay and the boat-camp in Newman Bay, together with 

 the American ensign which was hoisted over the grave 

 of Captain Hall, during the stay of our men in the 

 neighbourhood, were, on the return of the Expedition 



