In the Arctic Regions. 467 
bay, which I have had the pleasure of naming after 
my friend Captain Beaufort, R.N., and which was 
then covered with ice. We had also the happiness of 
finding a channel that led to seaward, which enabled 
us to get on the outside of the reef; but as we pushed 
as close as we could to the border of the -packed ice, 
our situation, for the next four hours, was attended 
with no little anxiety. The appearance of the clouds 
bespoke the return of fog, and we were sailing with a 
strong breeze through narrow channels, between heavy 
pieces of drift ice, on the outside of a chain of reefs 
that stretched across Beaufort Bay, which we knew 
could not be approached within a mile, owing to the 
shallowness of the water. 
At six in the evening, the party passed the termi- 
nation of the British chain of mountains, and the next 
day came in sight of the Romerzoff chain, continuing 
in boats along the shore. Qn the 7th of August, Fi- 
loxman Island was reached. In coasting along the 
Polar Sea, the Expedition was greatly troubled by 
the dense fogs, which almost put an end to traveling. 
On the 16th day of August, the forces of the party 
were turned homeward to the winter quarter, at Fort 
Franklin, near Bear Lake River—which place they 
reached on Thursday, September 21—after traveling 
in three months, 2048 statute miles. Dr. Richardson 
had arrived with the Eastern detachment of the Ex- 
