290 DESEETED BOAT, Chap. XV. 



only living creatures a few willow grouse. 

 Traces even of the wandering Esquimaux be- 

 came much less frequent after leaving Cape 

 Herschel, Here were found only a few circles 

 of stones, the sites of tenting-places, but so 

 moss-grown as to be of great age. The prospect 

 to seaward was not less forbidding — a rugged 

 surface of crushed-up pack, including much 

 heavy ice. In these shallow ice-covered seas, 

 seals are but seldom found ; and it is highly 

 probable that all animal life in them is as scarce 

 as upon the land. 



From Cape Crozier the coast-line was found 

 to turn sharply away to the eastward ; and early 

 in the morning of the 30th May we encamped 

 alongside a large boat — another melancholy relic 

 which Hobson had found and examined a few 

 days before, as his note left here informed me ; 

 but he had failed to discover record, journal, 

 pocketbook, or memorandum of any description. 



A vast quantity of tattered clothing was lying 

 in her, and this we first examined. Not a single 

 article bore the name of its former owner.- The 

 boat was cleared out and carefully swept that 

 nothing might escape us. The snow was then 

 removed from about her, but nothing whatever 

 was found. 



Tliis boat measured 28 feet long, and 7 feet 



