146 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. AUGUST 



consequence, the ice in Hall's Basin was not driven to 

 the northward but remained closely packed. The 

 water-channel east of Cape Lieber was six miles in 

 breadth, the pack having collected on the eastern side 

 of Kennedy Channel. 



Passing Carl Bitter Bay, it was seen to be filled 

 with ice ; but with that exception we met none on 

 the western shore until we were abreast of Franklin 

 Island. From thence to the southward it gradually 

 became thicker and thicker, until at 4 A.M. of the 21st, 

 when abreast of Eawling's Bay, and in the same 

 latitude as the ' Polaris ' was, when beset in the pack 

 in 1872, we were also in danger of being cut off from 

 the land. I accordingly turned back, and succeeded 

 in gaining the shore shortly before low-water. 



Cape Lawrence, which forms the northern entrance 

 to the deepest bay on the coast, is by far the most 

 magnificent of the many remarkable headlands that so 

 profusely adorn Kennedy Channel. A grand castel- 

 lated cliff rises precipitously from the sea to a height 

 of about 2,000 feet. From its top the land slopes 

 upwards for a distance of three miles and attains an 

 altitude of at least 3,000 feet. 



On reaching the shore I steamed, as I had lately 

 been in the habit of doing, towards the 'ice-wall,' 

 thinking to make the ships fast to it while waiting for 

 the flood- tide to carry away the ice to the southward. 

 But I found that there was not sufficient depth of 

 water alongside for the ships. In fact, we had bidden 

 adieu to the lofty ice-fringe bordering the shore, which 

 is formed by the pressure of the heavy Polar pack 

 continually casting up new pieces of ice until a solid 



