CONTENTS. :^xv 



CHAPTER XI. 



Proceed westward in a boat — Cheerless state of the western sea 

 — Struggles in Bellot Strait — Falcons good Arctic fare — The 

 resources of Boothia Felix ■ — Future sledge travelling — Heavy 

 gales — Hobson's party start — Winter quarters — Bellot's 

 Strait ^- Advanced depot established — Observatories — Intense 

 cold — Autumn travellers — Narrow escape .. .. Page 192 



CHAPTER XII. 



Death of our engineer — Scarcity of game — The cold unusually 

 trying — Jolly, under adverse circumstances — Petersen's infor- 

 mation — Return of the sun of 1859 — Early spring sledge- 

 parties — Unusual severity of the winter — Severe hardships of 

 early sledging — The western shores of Boothia — Meet the 

 Esquimaux — Intelligence of Franklin's ships — Eeturn to the 

 'Fox' — Allen Young retiu-ns 212 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Dr. Walker's sledge journey — Snow-blindness attacks Young's 

 party — Departure of all sledge-parties — Equipment of sledge- 

 IJarties — Meet the same party of natives — Intelligence of the 

 second ship — My depot robbed — Part company from Hobson 

 • — Matty Island — Deserted snow-huts — Native sledges — Land 

 on King William's Land .. .. .. 240 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Meet Esquimaux — News of Franklin's people — Frighten a solitary 

 party — Reach the Great Fish River — On Montreal Island — 

 Total absence of all relics — Examine Ogle Peninsula — Dis- 

 cover a skeleton — Vagueness of Esquimaux information — Cape 

 Herschel— -Cairn 260 



CHAPTER XV. 



The cairn found empty — Discover Hobson's letter — Discovery of 

 Crozier's record — The deserted boat — Articles discovered about 

 the boat — The skeletons and relics — The boat belonged to the 

 'Erebus' — Conjectures 280 



