414 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
man then generally catches a great number, while the others only get a few, 
as the Seals, when at the point of choking, have recourse to a few holes 
without leaving them. Bears they kill by spearing them, after having 
brought them to bay by the dogs. They capture Foxes in traps of four 
different descriptions. For Hares they use nets made of seal-skin thongs. 
For birds they also use an implement like a catcher.” * 
Our stay at Port Foulke having been limited to twenty-four 
hours, we had just sufficient length of time at our disposal to 
observe what an interesting locality it would prove for further 
investigations, and though, like the rest of my companions, most 
anxious to push on, yet we all regretted that our visit was neces- 
sarily so short. It may be as well to point out here that Natural 
History and physical investigations occupied a secondary place 
in the programme of the Expedition, its main object, as set 
forth in the sailing orders, being “to attain the highest northern 
latitude, and if possible to reach the North Pole;” consequently 
every other consideration had to be subordinated to this express 
command. The opportunities of landing during the passage were 
confined to those few occasions when the ships were embayed in 
the ice near the shore. When the ice opened and the dredge or 
trawl might have been lowered with advantage, that was the very 
time to press forward, and every energy had to be devoted to the 
furtherance of that end. Sometimes a combination of circumstances 
stopped our vessels in places where they were surrounded by water ; 
such opportunities were never missed, and though usually on these 
occasions all were weary, cold and exhausted, yet the extra toil 
and labour involved in the lowering and hauling up of the dredge 
were voluntarily and cheerfully undergone. In reviewing the 
scientific results of an Arctic voyage, the almost insuperable 
obstacles that beset an inquirer should be realized, and it is only 
right, for the sake of those who may go to those regions in the 
future, that the difficulties which must be encountered should not 
be glossed over by those who have experienced them. 
Captain Nares having decided to attempt the passage of Smith 
Sound by hugging the western or American side of the channel, 
our vessels crossed over the following morning to Cape Isabella, 
where despatches were landed and a cairn erected. The formation 
of that Cape is red and white granite, which at a short distance 
might very well have been taken for alternating strata of red and 
* * Geographical Magazine,’ Feb. 1878. 
