NEW LAND. 



THE JOURNEY TO BEECHEY ISLAND THE CUTTER 'MARY' 

 THE DEPOT SPOILED. 



On April 23, Baumann, Fosheim, and Raanes started for 

 Beechey Island, provided with rations for thirty days, dog-food 

 for twenty-four days, nine gallons of petroleum, and a hodo- 

 meter for the rear sledge. They took with them one team of 

 six and two teams of five dogs. 



They started by way of Nordstrand, then on across the sea-ice 

 north of North Kent, and from there to Arthur Strait, which proved 

 to be a fjord. The going was heavy and difficult, and several ' ski ' 

 were broken. They shot two reindeer, saw a wolf, and came across 

 tracks of bears, wolves, and foxes. 



On April 28 they drove south through Arthur Fjord, and 

 reached the head of it at a distance of twenty miles from the 

 eastern point at the entrance. Then they passed a lake, and 

 camped up on land in order to reconnoitre. There they came 

 across a cairn built by Sir E. Belcher in 1853, and found a record 

 stating that he had come there from Jones Sound. Across the 

 low land due south they saw the sea- ice a good two miles away. 



At this place they made a small cache, and on April 30 went 

 on again in a southerly direction, following the crack from point 

 to point. The hodometer showed a distance from Arthur Fjord 

 to Wellington Channel of rather more than five miles. Soon 

 after the noonday halt they shot a bear, and while they were in 

 the midst of skinning it, another one came along, but time was 

 short, and they let it go. 



It was snowing next day, and they were rather late in starting ; 

 but at ten o'clock they had to set off whether they would or no, 

 for ' Moses ' broke loose and went off after a bear. While Fosheim 

 and the mate were driving after the bear, and making an end of 

 it, Baumann had to let go the rest of his team in order to get 

 ' Moses ' back. On May 3 they saw four bears, three of them at 

 one time. One was shot and the meat cached. On May 4 they 

 were at Beechey Island. 



It has long been known for certain that Beechey Island is not 



