44 PROGEESS ACROSS THE BAY. Chap. III. 



ardent sportsman, an agreeable companion, 

 never at a loss for occupation or amusement, 

 and always contented and sanguine. But we 

 have happily many such dispositions in the 

 ' Fox.' 



30th. — The whole distance across Melville 

 Bay is 1 70 miles : of this we have performed 

 about 120, 40 of which we have drifted in 

 the last fourteen days. The ' Isabel ' sailed 

 freely over this spot on 20th August, 1852 ; and 

 the ' North Star' was beset on 30th July, 1849, 

 to the southward of Melville Bay, and carried 

 in the ice across it and some 70 or 80 miles 

 beyond, when she was set free on 26th Sep- 

 tember, and went into winter quarters in Wol- 

 stenholme Sound. What a precedent for us ! 



Yesterday we set to work as usual to warp 

 the ship along, and moved her ten feet : an in- 

 significant hummock then blocked up the narrow 

 passage ; as we could not push it before us, a 

 two-pound blasting charge was exploded, and 

 the surface ice was shattered, but such an im- 

 mense quantity of broken ice came up from 

 beneath, that the difficulty was greatly increased 

 instead of being removed. This is one of the 

 many instances in which our small vessel labours 

 under very great disadvantages in ice-naviga- 

 tion — we have neither suf&cient manual power. 



