412 DR JOHN EAE'S EXPLORATIONS— l^^^AT. 



of reaching the most southerly of Sir John Eoss's discoveries, and thus 

 ascertaining whether the land was continuous all along the west shore of 

 the Gulf of Boothia. He took with him only two of his party, and he 

 instructed the others, who were left behind, to kill seals, buy provisions from 

 any Eskimos that might visit them, and, above all, to be "careful in using the 

 remaining stock of provisions. With his two compajjions Rae started on the 

 morning of the 17th April, his course being along the shore in a north-west 

 direction. After walking seventeen miles, he reached and named Cape 

 Berens (lat. 69° 4', long. 90° 35') at noon, and at three p.m. he reached the 

 camping-groimd for the night, between two small points, which he named 

 the Twins (lat. 69° 13', long. 90° 55'). Starting again at three a.m. on the 

 18th, the same course was followed along the shore, and Halkett Inlet was 

 discovered and explored. 



Rae was now certain that, if his observations and calculations for lati- 

 tude and longitude were correct, he must be near Lord Mayor's Bay, the 

 most southerly of Eoss's discoveries, and that the main object of the expedi- 

 tion — so far as regarded this line of coast — ^was now about to be realised. 

 He therefore decided on striking across the land in a north direction, in 

 preference to following round the coast, as by so doing he would reach 

 Lord Mayor's Bay more quickly. He and his men, having rested a little, 

 accordingly commenced a toilsome march overland, in the course of which 

 an excellent meridian observation was taken and the latitude ascertained to 

 be 69° 26'. In a spot three miles north of this point, Eae ordered his men 

 to prepare the snow-house for the night, while he himself went forward 

 alone in the hope of reaching the coast. " A walk of twenty minutes," he 

 writes, " brought me to an inlet not more than a quarter of a mile wide. 

 This I traced to the westward for upwards of a league, when my course was 

 again obstructed by land. There were some high rocks near at hand which 

 I ascended, and from the summit I thought I could distinguish rough ice in 

 the desired direction. With renewed hopes I slid down a declivity, plung- 

 ing among snow, scrambling over rocks, and through rough ice, until I 

 gained more level ground. I then directed my steps to some rising ground 

 which I found to be close to the sea-shore. From the spot on which I now 

 stood, as far as the eye could reach to the north-westward, lay a large extent 

 of ice-covered sea, studded with innumerable islands. Lord Mayor's Bay 

 was before me, and the islands were those named by Sir John Eoss the 

 ' Sons of the Clergy of the Church of Scotland.' " One interesting and im- 

 portant point in the geography of the Polar regions was thus settled. The 

 joint discoveries of Sir John Eoss and of Dr Eae had proved that there was 

 no water-way leading west from Boothia Gulf to the open water of the 

 Arctic Sea. Had Simpson, therefore, endeavoured to follow round the 

 north shores of America, eastward from the Castor and Pollux Eiver, with 



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