ARRIVAL AT RETURN REEF. 357 



quarters there, establish a fishery, and collect dried meat for the coming 

 winter. From this point began the voyage proper down the Mackenzie to 

 the Polar Sea. The crews of the " Castor " and " Pollux " consisted of six 

 men each, and included the famous steersmen, M'Kay and Sinclair, who 

 had sailed with Back down Great Fish River, as well as Fran5ois Felix, a 

 Canadian bowman, who had been with Franklin in 1826. Near the junction 

 of Bear Lake River with the Mackenzie, the natural fires of wood-coal along 

 the bank were observed to be still burning, just as when they were seen and 

 described by Richardson. On the 7th, after having passed Point Separa- 

 tion, at the head of the delta of the Mackenzie, the explorers had the satis- 

 faction, new to a number of them, of beholding the sun at midnight, elevated 

 more than one diameter above the horizon. "At four p.m." (on the 9th), 

 writes Simpson, " the Arctic Ocean burst into view. We saluted it with 

 joyous cheers, and, immediately landing, found ourselves at the bottom of 

 Shoal water Bay." After waiting here for an hour, the westward voyage 

 along the coast was commenced, and the discoveries of Franklin were suc- 

 cessively verified without the occurrence of many incidents of a kind with 

 which his voyage has not made us familiar. The navigation was difficult, 

 the storms frequent, and the shore-channel hampered with ice, as Franklin 

 had found them, and the different tribes of Eskimos met with at the various 

 landing-places, displayed the same characteristics of simplicity, cupidity, and 

 occasionally of a disposition to high-handed robbery, which the first civilised 

 navigator of these shores so minutely observed and described. There is, 

 therefore, little to record in the voyage of the " Castor " and " Pollux " until 

 when, on the 23d July, the boats arrived off" Return Reef, the farthest point 

 reached by Franklin, and consequently the point at which the discoveries 

 and original researches of Dease and Simpson were to begin. "At ten 

 o'clock on the morning of the 23d," writes Simpson, " we once more set 

 sail for Point Anxiety. The ice again prevented our approaching it, and let 

 us far to seaward, till, in passing Yarborough Inlet, the low coast was only 

 visible from the mast-head, distant about six miles. The ice, to our great 

 joy, then turned abruptly in towards Return Reef, which we reached at nine 

 in the evening. I may here mention that our early arrival at the point 

 where our discoveries were to commence is, under Providence, mainly 

 attributable to our perseverance in doubling these great ice-packs, any of 

 which might have confined us a fortnight to the beach, had we chosen to 

 wait for its dispersion, or even till its extent could have been ascertained. 

 Our humble thanks were off'ered to the Omnipotent Being whose arm had 

 guarded us thus far, and we fervently implored a continuance of His 

 gracious protection. . . . After supper we resumed our route, and the 

 regular survey began." 



The route along the shore from Return Reef to Point Barrow was 



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