114 In the North Water. 



Melville Bay with only a few hours' detention, I 

 cannot but acknowledge to a slight feeling of dis- 

 appointment in not having witnessed a few of those 

 dangers and difficulties experienced by many whilst 

 performing this dreaded passage. I was most 

 anxious to see the " crimson snow" on the hills 

 of Beverley; to land at Cape York and commu- 

 nicate with those interesting Esquimaux, styled by 

 Sir John Ross the Arctic Highlanders ; to shoot deer 

 in the neighbourhood of Cape Athole, where they 

 abound ; and to bag some eider duck and obtain their 

 eggs amongst the islands where they congregate in 

 thousands. The glaciers also, which were distinctly 

 visible from the ship, extending far away into the 

 interior, were objects of great interest to me, and 

 of which I was most anxious to obtain a closer 

 inspection. 



At about 2 p.m., being in latitude 76° 20' N., 



with the Cary Islands in sight on our starboard bow, 



we reached the northern limit of the middle ice, and 



our course was altered to the S. W., our fishing 



ground being off the entrance to Lancaster Sound. 



Only 850 miles from the North Pole ! It seems 



no distance. To the northward appears a fine open 



water, interrupted only by a few insignificant streams 



of straggling ice, extending out from Whale Sound. 



One day's steaming would take us to the portals 



of Smith's Sound, that mysterious region by which 



the vast extent of unknown land around the Pole 



seems alone attainable. 



