190 EOSS'S CAIRN. Chap. X. 



night is dark and unusually mild. I can hardly 

 fancy that the sea which gently rocks ns is not 

 the ocean, and the soft air the breath of our 

 own temperate region ! The delusion is 

 charming. 



30th. — Yesterday, after anchoring in Depot 

 Bay, I walked over to Possession Point, to visit 

 Ross's cairn. I found a few stones piled up on 

 two large boulders, and under each a halfpenny, 

 one of which I pocketed. Upon the ground lay 

 the fragments of a bottle which once contained 

 the record, and near it a staff about 4 feet long. 

 Having calculated upon finding the bottle sound, 

 I was obliged to make an impromptu record- 

 case of its long neck, into which I thrust my 

 brief document, and consigned it to the safe 

 custody of a small heap of stones, the staff being 

 erected over it. 



It was dark before I got on board again. 

 The strait had been reconnoitred from the hills, 

 and was reported to be perfectly clear of ice ! 

 Tliis morning we made a fourth attempt to 

 pass through ; but Bellot Strait was by no 

 means clear ; the same obstruction existed 

 which defeated our last attempt, and in precisely 

 the same place. Returning eastward, we entered 

 a narrow arm of the sea, nearly a couple of 



