584 Our North Land. 



barriers to navigation than do those met with off the Strait of 

 Belle Isle, nor were they more numerous in Hudson Strait than 

 they frequently are off Belle Isle. 



" Ordinary field-ice was met with off North Bluff and the Upper 

 Savages on the 11th of August. This ice, though it would have 

 compelled an ordinary iron steamer to go dead slow, gave no trouble 

 to the Neptune. Just before entering Ashe Inlet we had to break 

 through a heavy string, which was, however, done without in the 

 slightest degree injuring the ship. In the harbour (Ashe Inlet) the 

 ice came in with the flood-tide, and set so fast that the Eskimos 

 were able to walk off to the ship, a distance of three-quarters of a 

 mile. On the south shore our experience was much the same ; but 

 no ice was met with through which the ship could not have forced 

 her way without damage. In the centre of the Strait, to the east 

 of North Bluff, no field-ice was seen at all, and after leaving Stu- 

 part's Bay, on the outward voyage, although the vessel lay-to for 

 the night in the ice, it was only to wait for daylight, and not 

 because the ice was too heavy. This pack extended about eighteen 

 miles out into the Strait, and after getting over this distance we 

 came into clear water. From this point to Charles Island, and 

 thence to the end of Salisbury Island, long strings of ice were 

 frequently seen ; but as their direction was invariably parallel to 

 our course, or nearly so, we coasted round them. On the homeward 

 voyage none of this field-ice was seen." 



The above account of the experiences of the Expedition in the 

 field-ice agrees precisely with that given by the author in the earlier 

 chapters of this volume ; but the following remarks concerning the 

 Neptune's struggles with the Arctic ice are not strictly correct. He 

 says : " After passing the east end of Salisbury Island the ice got 

 heavier and closer, and when off Nottingham Island the pack was 

 so run together that I determined to give up the attempt to force 

 the ship through it, and working out again headed more to the 

 southward. In making in for land here we broke the propeller, 

 but succeeded in taking the ship into harbour with the stumps." 



I venture a correction of the above paragraph thus : It was when 

 attempting to enter an apparent harbour, where the ice was jammed 



