BOOTHIA PROVED A PENINSULA. 413 



the view of entering Boothia Gulf, and sailing out into the Atlantic by Fury 

 and Hecla Strait, his purpose would have been frustrated by the discovery 

 that Boothia Felix, instead of being an island separated by a navigable 

 strait from the mainland of America, was really a part of that mainland — 

 a great peninsula connected with the continent by an isthmus, just as Mel- 

 ville Peninsula is joined to the mainland by Eae Isthmus. Dr Eae reached 

 his farthest point in this northward direction when he scrambled down to 

 the south shore of Boss's Lord Mayor's Bay, and, from this point, " after 

 offering, with a humble and grateful heart, thanks to Him who had thus 

 brought our journey so far to a successful termination, I began," writes the 

 discoverer, " to retrace my steps towards my companions." At a late hour, 

 and after having traversed in all forty miles, over a rough road, Eae arrived 

 at the commodious snow hut which his comrades had prepared. Next 

 morning (19th April), having taken possession of his discoveries with the 

 usual formalities, he set out upon his return journey to Fort Hope, on 

 Etjpulse Bay. From Eoss's Isthmus, at the south-east angle of Lord 

 Mayor's Bay, the explorers travelled eastward, along Franklin Inlet, then 

 turning south walked seven miles in that direction and encamped. Cross- 

 ing Halkett Inlet on the morning of the 20th, they reached their former 

 encampment between the " Twins," and slept in the snow house they had 

 previously erected. At two a.m. they started again to reach the island on 

 which they had left the remainder of the party, where they arrived on the 

 evening of the 21st, and found all well. Here they were visited next morn- 

 ing by a number of Eskimos, who brought a quantity of seals' flesh, blood, 

 and blubber. These Eae purchased, giving in exchange knives, files, beads, 

 and needles. The island on which the party were staying, and which was 

 found to rise 730 feet above sea-level, was named Helen's Island, the group 

 to which it belonged was named Harrison Islands, and the inlet of Boothia 

 Gulf, in which the islands are situated, was called Pelly Bay. 



On his outward journey, Eae had been advised by Ivitchuk, his Eskimo 

 guide, to strike inland across the country from Keith Bay to Pelly Bay, and 

 thus save the time and labour which travelling round the coast would have 

 rendered necessary. Now, however, that the explorer had accomplished the 

 great purpose of his journey, he resolved to devote a day or two to the ex- 

 ploration and survey of the tract of coast-line which had been left unvisited. 

 Accordingly, on the 24th, the whole party set out from Helen's Island in a 

 north-east direction along the shores of what proved to be a bold peninsula 

 stretching northward into the south part of Boothia Gulf. The sun was 

 now warm during the day, and the travellers, exposed to the mid-day glare, 

 began to suffer much from snow-blindness. To avoid this evil, Dr Eae 

 stopped early, built his snow house on the coast, which was low and flat 

 with limestone and granite boulders here and there, and resumed his march 



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