492 THE FRANKLIN SEARCH— 184.8-51. 



difficulty in effecting their passage, according to the period in the month of 

 July in which it was attempted. For instance, Sir John Franklin's ships, 

 in 1845, were only crossing the Arctic circle at the time we were thi^ year 

 (1849) in the ' north water.' And in 1845 Sir John Franklin's ships were 

 met in Melville Bay beset, and still forty miles from the 'north water,' 

 when the whalers were returning full from Pond's Bay. 



" I was the more annoyed at our bad luck, seeing that if we had got 

 through at the same time as the ' St Andrew,' some advantage might have 

 been taken of the additional time thus gained, to search for some informa- 

 tion of the expeditions. I am certain, at least, we should not have been lying 

 idle. Mr Penny had proposed a most feasible plan to nie, and which I should 

 have been delighted to have had it in my power to execute. He knew there 

 was an Esquimaux at Pond's Bay of the name of Toonick, with whom he 

 was well acquainted, an intelligent fellow, and who could speak English well. 

 Our plan was, that I should make a bargain with this man to accompany me 

 as a guide from Pond's Bay to Navy Board Inlet. With a couple of sledges, 

 the necessary number of dogs, and Esquimaux attendants, we thought this 

 could have been easily done, and I yet regret that I had it not in my power 

 to try it. Although we visited Navy Board Inlet a month afterwards, and 

 found no trace of the expedition there, yet my time would have been as well 

 employed as on board ship ; and, if I had done nothing else, I could have 

 ascertained whether or not there is a sea communication between the two 

 inlets, which seems exceedingly probable. However, we found, upon inquiry, 

 from the first natives who came ofi" to us, that Toonick, and almost all the 

 rest of the Esquimaux, had proceeded up the country salmon-fishing. Those 

 who were left were all old men, many of them afflicted with snow-blindness ; 

 and the only stout young fellow we saw appeared to be idiotical. We could 

 make nothing whatever out of him. Our scheme was thus knocked on the 

 head, much to my disappointment, as I had looked forward to it with great 

 hopes." How many voyages of discovery in the high latitudes have failed 

 from omitting the precaution to be at the edge of the ice early in the 

 season ! 



Whaling now went merrily on for the next two weeks. Captain Penny 

 enjoying more than the average share of good luck. During this time, 

 Goodsir's habits were sadly upset. It almost invariably happened that 

 when the electrifying cry of " A faU ! " was heard, it was at midnight, or 

 shortly after it ; " and then," says Goodsir, ruefully, " adieu to sleep for the 

 next eight hours at least." For the first ten days the "doctor" seems to 

 have sufiered a little from despondency, bred of his enforced confinement on 

 a whaling station when his heart and soul were away among the ice-rimmed 

 coasts, the channels, and inlets of Barrow Strait, among which it might still 

 be possible to find his brother, or at least to rescue some of Franklin's party. 



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