THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 637 



convert the boat cover and other pieces of canvas into pack bags 

 for all the dogs, and into bags in which we ourselves could carry 

 whatever we desired. While the men were busy at this I hunted, 

 seeking both food and information. I was especially anxious to 

 determine the location of Point John Russell, for I suspected that 

 Captain McClure had left a record there when he made the sledge 

 journey in the fall from the Investigator, lying near the Princess 

 Royal Islands, to this vicinity from which he had seen to the north 

 open water which he rightly identified as Melville Sound. This 

 meant that he had discovered the Northwest Passage. 



On July 26th I had been inland and was returning to the coast, 

 for once without any thought of McClure's beacon. I had taken 

 it for granted that it must have been at some conspicuous point. 

 But I was half a mile inland following a gravel bank twenty or 

 thirty feet high, on the north side of a small creek which has its 

 mouth about three miles south of Knight Harbor, when I almost 

 stepped upon a brass cylinder lying on the level ground. There 

 was not a sign of a monument though there were three or four 

 small stones scattered about. None of them would have weighed 

 over ten or fifteen pounds. Apparently the beacon must have been 

 a heap of sand in which these few stones were included. The wind 

 has since blown the sand away, leaving this spot as level as any 

 other. But the stones and the brass tube the wind could not move. 



The top had been poorly soldered and the wind had blown the 

 cylinder full of sand which was now soaking wet. There was 

 small hope of finding the record in good condition. I took it to 

 camp, opened the cylinder carefully, removed the wet wad of paper 

 and dried it before attempting to unroll it, and when it was even- 

 tually opened I was surprised to find it legible with the exception 

 of probably less than half a dozen words. It runs as follows: 



"This Notice was deposited by a Traveling Party from Her Britan- 

 nic Majesty's Discovery Ship Investigator who were in Search of the 

 Expedition under Sir John Franklin which up to this date has not been 

 heard of. 



"The Investigator wintered in the Pack N.E. four Miles from the 

 Princess Royal Isles; upon the S.W. side of the large (word missing, 

 paper torn) left a depot of Provisions. 



"The Crews are all well and in excellent Spirits, having escaped 

 any sickness during the winter. 



"A Party discovered the North West passage by traveling over 

 the Ice upon the 26th October last in Latitude 73° 31' IST., Longitude 

 (by Lunar) 114° 14' W. 



