200 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
NOTES FROM AN ARCTIC JOURNAL. 
By H. W. Feirpen, F.G.S., C.M.Z.S. 
(Concluded from p. 170.) 
We managed, after several futile attempts, to escape from 
Dobbin Bay on the 3rd September; by the 4th we had rounded 
Cape Hawks, and were moored to the ice in Allman Bay. Our 
prospects at this date were somewhat critical; at least fifty 
miles of ice separated us from Cape Sabine, which was the most 
northern position where we could hope to meet with the “ North 
water” of Baffin Bay; the stock of steaming coal was reduced to 
three tons on board the ‘ Alert,’ and to two on board our consort ; 
after that we should, if we continued our attempt to force the ice, 
have to encroach on our cooking and warming supply. The 
question, therefore, became a very serious one for our leader, 
whether we should at once go into winter-quarters or run the 
risk of drawing upon the winter fuel for steaming purposes. He 
decided, however, to push on for a few days longer. 
On the 6th September our ships were embayed in the ice off 
Cape D’Urville, which marks the southern entrance to Allman 
Bay. Landing with Captain Nares and Markham, we walked 
along the ice-foot for three or four miles to the southward. The 
recently fallen snow, which lay to the depth of four or five inches, 
crackled under our feet. The sun shone out, but light clouds 
travelling rapidly from the westward gave a decided warning of 
approaching wind, and a prospect of a disruption in the ice, 
which then closely hemmed us in. 
The cliffs under which we then travelled are composed of a 
massive red-coloured conglomerate; the constituent pebbles were 
falling in a continuous shower from the face of the cliff. Some 
of them were as large as a man’s head, but dwindled down to the 
size of hazel-nuts. In some of these pebbles I detected the 
remains of corals, showing that this enormous thickness of 
water-worn conglomerates had been derived from older fossili- 
ferous strata. During our walk we captured two Lemmings, and 
saw three Eider Ducks with their broods in a tidal-crack ; also 
two Seals, Phoca hispida. 
In the evening, the wind rising, the ice slackened, and under 
a full head of steam we pushed into Franklin Pierce Bay. A fine 
