206 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



Aprti wan * P rov i s i° ns ' even during the most inclement part of the year. The 

 v^rv/ state of the ice was to-day very unfavourable for their purpose, being broken 



into pieces so small that they could scarcely venture to walk upon it. 

 Thur. 4. The phenomenon frequently observed at Melville Island in the springs 

 of the white clouds assuming the form of two continuous arches, with their 

 legs meeting near the east and west horizons, was finely displayed on the 

 4th, the height of the arches in the centre, from the north and south 

 horizons, being from 50° to 70°. It was now more than a month since our 

 washed clothes had in part been dried by exposure to the sun's rays under 

 the ship's stern, which however it required two days of fine weather to 

 effect. As this space was small, and it was of importance to get rid as 

 soon as possible of the drying process on the lower-deck, we now built 

 upon the ice a thick wall of snow, seven feet high, thirty yards in length, 

 and exactly facing the south. Against this, though not touching it, was 

 suspended a long black-painted cloth, which absorbed so much heat from 

 the sun's rays that the clothes hung before it on lines were dried in a 

 few hours, though the thermometer in the shade was only from 5° to 9° 

 • above zero. 



Frid. 5. The morning of the 5th proved favourable for a journey I had in contem- 

 plation to the distant huts, to which Iligliuk, who had come to Winter 

 Island the day before, promised to be my guide. At six o'clock I set out, 

 accompanied by Mr. Bush nan and two of the men, carrying with us a supply 

 of bread-dust besides our own provisions and blankets. As the distance 

 was too great for her son Sioutkuk to walk, we were uncertain till the 

 moment of setting out how this was to be managed, there being no sledge 

 at hand for the purpose. We found hoAvever that a man, whom we had ob- 

 served for some time at work among the hummocks of ice upon the beach, 

 had been employed in cutting out of that abundant material a neat and 

 serviceable little sledge, hollowed like a bowl or tray out of a solid block, 

 and smoothly rounded at the bottom. The thong to which the dogs were 

 attached was secured to a groove cut round its upper edge ; and the young 

 seal-catcher, seated in this simple vehicle, was dragged along with great 

 convenience and comfort. 



The ice over which we travelled was a level floe that had never suffered 

 disturbance since its first formation in the autumn, and with not more than 

 an inch and a half of snow upon it. The path being distinctly marked out by 

 the people, sledges, and dogs, that had before travelled upon it, one might, 



