38 



POLAR REGIONS. 



Polar twelvemonth's provisions and stores to be transported 

 Regions. f rom fa Hecla to the Fury, and various necessary ex- 

 V -*" N <""'' changes of anchors, cables, and boats to be made ; all 

 of which, as far as the transport went, was accomplish- 

 ed in a fortnight only, by the dogs they purchased of 

 the Esquimaux, which vast labour they performed with 

 astonishing ease and expedition. " It was a curious 

 sight," observes Captain Parry in his narrative, " to 

 watch these useful animals walking off with a bower 

 anchor, a boat, or a top-mast, without any difficulty ; 

 and it may give some idea of what they are able to per- 

 form, to state that nine of Captain Lyon's dogs drag- 

 ged l6ll pounds a distance of 1750 yards in nine mi- 

 nutes, and that they worked in a similar way between 

 the ships for seven or eight hours in a day. The road, 

 however, was very good at the time, and the dogs the 

 best that could be procured/' In another service of 

 the expedition, ten dogs drew a sledge across the ice 

 a distance of forty statute miles in a day, " the weight 

 in the sledge being about 1200 Ib. and half of the road 

 very indifferent." * On another occasion, eleven dogs 

 drew, for a considerable journey of two days, a weight 

 of 2050 pounds.t In describing their power generally, 

 Captain Parry remarks, " that when the surface of the 

 snow is good for travelling, six or seven dogs will draw 

 from eight to ten hundred weight, at the rate of seven 

 or eight miles an hour, for several hours together, and 

 will easily under these circumstances perform a jour- 

 ney of fifty or sixty miles a day.'' 



In the course of the spring, the people had the be-% 

 nefit, not unfrequently, of various supplies of fresh pro- 

 vision. They obtained the hearts, livers, and kidneys 

 of sea-horses from the Esquimaux, a species of food of 

 which both officers and men were very fond. Their 

 own sporting afforded them hares, deer, ducks, and 

 salmon. On the 18th of July, it was calculated that 

 they had killed about 900 ducks, of which about two 

 thirds were of the king-duck species. The quantity of 

 salmon taken and deer killed was also important : 640lb. 

 weight is mentioned as the quantity of salmon brought 

 to the ship at one time, together with 95 Ib. of venison. 



That bane of the early voyagers, the scurvy, made 

 its appearance on the 30th of July, in four or five of 

 the Fury's men. One instance only had occurred in 

 the preceding year, and this was easily overcome ; and 

 in the early part of the present year occasional indica- 

 tions of it had been observed ; but these readily gave 

 way on the administration of the usual remedies. Now, 

 however, the symptoms in some became more determi- 

 ned and formidable, and before the conclusion of the 

 voyage, was the occasion of the death of Mr. Fife, the 

 Greenland master of the Hecla. 



The month of August advanced before any prospect 

 of a release occurred, the ice into which the ships were 

 frozen being still sealed to the land, whilst in the offing 

 there had long been abundance of clear water. On the 

 4th, attempts were made to reduce the confines of the 

 barrier by sawing. In four days the Fury obtained 

 her release, and in the day following the Hecla, after a 

 state of miserable confinement of almost ten months. 



No favourable alteration having yet taken place in 

 the ice in the strait, Captain Parry, influenced by the 

 rapid diminution of his resources, and the declining 

 state of the health of the sailors under his directions, 

 prudently gave up his design of prosecuting the're- 

 search farther, and determined on returning home. 

 Soon completing their arrangements for this .purpose, 

 they took their final leave of Igloolik on the ] 2th of 



October, and ran in a clear sea as far to the southward Polar 

 of Ooglit, where a temporary detention occurred, in Regions 

 consequence of the ice close in-shore. For a consider- ^ 

 able time they were more constantly hampered by the 

 ice, and the ships often exposed to danger b> its drift 

 along shore. But what they could not accomplish by 

 sailing, the regular and rapid set of the ice to the south- 

 ward accomplished for them. From Ooglit to Winter 

 Island is 160 miles along the coast, a distance of which 

 they only sailed 40 miles, and drifted the rest, amount- 

 ing to 120 miles in eight days, being at the r^te of 15 

 miles a day. The flood tide, which sets to the north- 

 ward, and runs longer than the ebb, aided by the cur- 

 rent, accomplished this object for them. 



The ships continuing beset were, on the 4th of 

 August, carried up Lyon's Inlet as high as Safety 

 Cove. After this they were drifted up and down the 

 inlet for several days, generally in peril, and sometimes 

 exposed to imminent risk from their nearness to rocks 

 and other dangers. On the 15th, however,. the Fury 

 happily escaped into clear water, to the eastward of 

 Southampton Island, and the Hecla was enabled to 

 join her on the 17th. The clear sea they were now in 

 extended far to the northward, the ice appearing only 

 to form a continuous strip or band lying close along 

 shore. Captain Parry had no doubt that this clear sea 

 extended beyond the farthest point of Fox Island, along 

 the eastern shore ; and there is no great unlikelihood 

 but it might extend even beyond Cockburn Island, 

 possibly to some other western outlet into the Polar 

 Sea. But as this is a mere speculation, it becomes us 

 not to raise expectations, had we the power, that it 

 would be so troublesome, and probably so unprofitable, 

 to attempt to fulfil. 



From the position of the ships on their escaping 

 from the ice, they proceeded, in a perfectly clear sea, 

 down Hudson's Strait, and took their final departure 

 from Button Islands, at the entrance of the strait on 

 the 23d of September. From about the 73d degree of 

 longitude to the entrance of the strait, icebergs of large 

 dimensions occurred, but no obstruction to the naviga- 

 tion was met with. 



On the 10th of October the expedition arrived at 

 Lerwick, where the adventurers received a most grati- 

 fying welcome from the inhabitants. On the 12th, 

 being Sabbath-day, Captain Parry, accompanied by 

 his people, attended Divine Service in the church at 

 Lerwick ; respecting which circumstance, and the im- 

 pressive thanksgiving of the venerable clergyman, for 

 the return of the expedition, he makes very pleasing 

 and respectful mention. 



They reached Whitby on the 16th, where Capt. Parry 

 left his ship, and, proceeding by land to London, ar- 

 rived at the Admiralty on the 18th of October, 1823. 



It now only remains that we give a few remarks 

 respecting the Esquimaux of Winter Island and Igloo- 

 lik, which will bring the article to its conclusion. 



At the two wintering stations of Winter Island and 

 Igloolik the total number of Esquimaux was 219 ; of 

 whom 69 were men, 77 women, and 73 children. 

 Two or three of the men appeared to be near seventy 

 years of age, the rest from about twenty to fifty ; the 

 majority of the women were younger. The stature 

 corresponded with the general character of the Esqui- 

 maux ; of the twenty individuals of each sex, measur- 

 ed at Igloolik, the average height of the men was 

 5 ft. 5 3- in. and of the women 5 ft. 0| in. ; the tallest 



Captain Parry's Journal, p. 437. 



I Ibid.j). 460. 



