366 SIMPSON'S £XFLOEATIONS— 1826-29. 



banks were piled up with ponderous fragments. " But," writes Simpson, 

 " the day was bright and lovely as we shot down rapid after rapid, in many 

 of which we had to pull for our lives, to keep out of the suction of the pre- 

 cipices, along whose base the breakers raged and foamed with overwhelming 

 fury. Shortly before noon we came in sight of Escape Eapid of Franklin, 

 and a glance at the overhanging clifis told us that there was no alternative 

 but to run down with fuU cargo. In an instant we were in the vortex ; 

 and, before we were aware, my boat was borne towards an isolated rock, 

 which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear it on the outside was no 

 longer possible ; our only chance of safety was to run between it and the lofty 

 eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every breath was hushed. A stream, 

 which dashed down upon us over the brow of the precipice, more than a hun- 

 dred feet in height, mingled with the spray that whirled upwards from the 

 rapid, forming a terrij&c shower-bath. The pass was about eight feet wide, 

 and the error of a single foot would have been instant destruction. As, 

 guided by Sinclair's consummate skill, the boat shot safely through those 

 jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose. Our next impulse was to turn 

 round to view the fate of our comrades behind. They had profited by the 

 perU we incurred, and kept without the treacherous rock in time. The 

 waves there were still higher, and for a while we lost sight of our friends. 

 When they emerged, the first object visible was the bowman disgorging 

 part of an intrusive wave which he had swallowed, and looking half-drowned. 

 Mr Dease afterwards told me that the spray, which completely enveloped 

 them, formed a gorgeous rainbow around the boat." 



After an enforced halt of five days on account of the ice, which still 

 hampered the lower reaches of the river, the explorers recommenced the 

 voyage on the 1st July, and descending Bloody Fall, reached the shores of 

 the Polar Sea. The sea-ice, however, was found still firmly adhering to the 

 beach, and showing no signs of decay. After a provoking delay of a week, 

 Sinclair was sent along the coast on the 7th to examine the condition of the 

 ice. He found it everywhere Ipinff solid and unbroken upon the sand ! On the 

 evening of the 16th an opening in the ice, running east, was discovered, and 

 on the following day the explorers, pushing into it, commenced their second 

 voyage along the shores of the Arctic Ocean. Advancing day by day, with 

 great labour, along the ice-hampered shore, the expedition followed the 

 track of Franklin from point to point. On the 29th they doubled Cape 

 Barrow, and finding the ice in Coronation Gulf still perfectly solid, they 

 were obliged to coast along southward in search of a passage across Bathurst 

 Inlet. While detained among Barry Islands, Simpson had the good fortune 

 to discover several pieces of pure copper ore, in which these shores are 

 known to be rich. Crossing the entrance to Melville Sound on the 5th, 

 Simpson was deeply disappointed to find the interior of that inlet still com- 



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