54: CRUISE OF THE NEPTUNE 



danger to the party is in event of the Ojoa being unable to free 

 herself from the ice when the time comes for a return. As the 

 expedition is aware of the whaling and police establishments 

 in the northwestern part of Hudson bay a retreat there may be 

 made without great difficulty, if accompanied by natives. 



We were forced to leave Beechey island hurriedly, owing to 

 a large quantity of ice being driven rapidly out of the harbour 

 by a fresh breeze and a falling tide, which threatened to 

 separate us from the ship. 



Prom the island no ice could be seen to the westward or 

 northward in Wellington -channel and Barrow strait. Our 

 instructions limited the cruise westward in Lancaster sound to 

 our present position, and the damaged condition of the ship, 

 together with a supply of provisions insufficient for another 

 winter in the ice, all militated against the desire to attempt the 

 Northwest Passage, which under favourable conditions seemed 

 possible in our staunch powerful steamship. 



We left Erebus harbour at half-past two in the afternoon, 

 standing southward across Lancaster sound for North Somerset 

 island. At five o'clock some loose stringers of ice were met, and 

 the course was changed to the eastward to avoid them. The 

 north wind freshened to a gale accompanied by fog, and trouble 

 was experienced in making the channel between Leopold island 

 and Cape Clarence, at the mouth of Prince Regent inlet. The 

 cape was passed at ten o'clock. The ship then steamed south, 

 along the high cliffs of limestone, for Port Leopold, where we 

 arrived at midnight. These cliffs rise 1,000 feet perpendicu- 

 larly, being formed of nearly horizontal beds of limestone of 

 different thicknesses and various shades of yellow, so that the 

 cliff has a marked horizontal banding. The rocks appear to 

 have long been submitted to the action of the weather and of 

 small streams, each of which has cut a more or less marked gully 

 into the face of the cliff, and the whole, taken together, give the 



