254 JOURNEY CONTINUED. Chap. XIII. 



that one of the men might have been wounded, 

 — they had discovered how to cock the locks, 

 and the pistols were loaded and capped. 



Oo-na-lee was well acquainted with the coast- 

 line up to Bellot Strait, and had names for the 

 different headlands, although he had never been 

 so far north ; he made many inquiries about the 

 position of our ship, her size, and the number of 

 men. Had he been able to travel so far with 

 his wife and several young children, and with- 

 out sledge or dogs, I think he certainly would 

 have gone up to Port Kennedy ; we did not 

 give him any encouragement to do so. His 

 wife was one of the most importunate of the 

 many women we saw at Cape Yictcria in March. 

 She was the woman who plucked out an infant 

 by its arm from inside her dress, and exposed 

 it regardless of — 30° and a fresh wind, as I 

 have previously told. 



The information respecting both the missing 

 ships was most important, and it remained for 

 us to discover, if possible, the stranded ship. 



Continuing our journey, we crossed a wide 

 bay upon level ice, and the most perfectly 

 smooth hard snow I ever saw ; there must have 

 been much open water here late last autumn. 

 Seven or eight snow huts, recently abandoned, 

 were found near the magnetic pole. During 



