CONCLUSION OF VOYAGE. 533 



confidence, and even allowing the men to touch, her. There can scarcely be 

 a more convincing proof than this, that our missing countrymen had not 

 been there. On the 8th of June the weather had become so warm that 

 drink was enjoyed off Cape Bounty without the aid of fire ; and from that 

 time the snow began to melt, which occasioned additional discomforts ; for 

 the tent and baggage on the sledge frequently got wet, and the men had to 

 wade incessantly through water up to their knees, so that the extreme cold 

 and frost-bites of spring were replaced by the wet and misery of an Arctic 

 summer. After a long and weary walk of 250 miles. Lieutenant M'Clintock 

 arrived on board on the 4th July, and thus terminated the most extraordi- 

 nary journey in the annals of Arctic history. His party had been absent 

 eighty-one days, during which time they had travelled over 770 miles of 

 ground, averaging a distance of ten miles daily. 



"Another party from ^Captain Austin's ship discovered the deep bay 

 dividing Cornwallis and Bathurst Lands, and which is terminated on the 

 west by Markham Point, and on the east by a narrow inlet; while Mr 

 Allen, master of the ' Resolute,' examined the shores of Lowther and Garrett 

 Islands. Such were the exertions made during the spring of 1851, to dis- 

 cover and relieve our long-lost countrymen. Five parties of Captain Austin's 

 expedition were away from the ships much longer than any that had pre- 

 ceded them, and braving the hardships of a month, the mean temperature of 

 which was -7°, and the maximum 39°; they have, although unsuccessful in 

 the main object, at least done their utmost, and well merited the praise 

 which has been bestowed upon their gallant and untiring efforts." 



On the 8th August, the discovery squadron was floated out of its 

 winter quarters, southward towards Barrow Strait. On arriving ofi" Cape 

 Warrender, Captain Austin took command of the two steamers, and pro- 

 ceeded to search Jones's Sound, while the " Resolute" and " Assistance " were 

 ordered to rendezvous off Wolstenholme Sound. On the night of the 15th, the 

 steamers entered Jones's Sound, which was found to increase in width above 

 the entrance. Its scenery was declared to be magnificent, especially that of 

 the south shore, " where," says Osborn, " some ten miles in the interior a 

 huge dome of pure white snow envelopes land some 3000 or 4000 feet high." 

 On the 17th, however, farther progress up the sound was stopped by floes 

 extending from the north to the south shore. Beating out of the sound, the 

 " Intrepid " and " Pioneer " made for the rendezvous, in the neighbourhood 

 of which they joined the " Resolute" and "Assistance" early in September. 

 Captain Austin was now forced to decide whether to remain out another 

 year, or at once to return to England ; and in view of the difficulty of reach- 

 ing a secure harbour, and the probability, in the event of not finding such a 

 harbour, of being drifted away into the Atlantic early in the spring, the cap- 

 tain resolved to bear up for home. He accordingly made sail southward 



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