308 RETURNING HOMEWARD. Chap. XVI, 



Prince George's Bay, therefore we were obliged 

 to go well into it before attempting to cross. 

 We gained the land — upon the opposite side, as 

 I supposed — and which would lead us direct to 

 Cape Sabine ; but when the weather cleared up 

 we saw a long low island to seaward of us, 

 which puzzled me much. Eventually I found 

 we had discovered a strait leading from Prince 

 Greorge's Bay into Wellington Strait, about 

 8 miles south of Cape Sabine. 



This discovery cost us a day's delay, and was 

 therefore unwelcome, as we were then in daily 

 expectation and dread of the thaw, which ren- 

 ders all travelling so very difficult ; and we were 

 still 230 long miles from our ship. In this 

 strait we found a deserted snow village of 

 seventeen huts ; one of them was unusually 

 large, its internal diameter being 14 feet. The 

 men soon scraped together enough blubber to 

 supply us with fuel for our homeward march; 

 Strewed about on the ice or in every snow hut 

 were shavings and chips of fresh wood ; in one of 

 them I found a child's toy — a miniature sledge — 

 made of wood. No traces of natives were found 

 upon either shore at this place, nor had I met 

 with any since leaving the western coast of the 

 island to the southward of Cape Crozier. 



Having passed through nearly to the eastern 



