OF THE POLAR SEA. 203 



survives the summer is evident, from the 

 rapidity of its decay ; and because no ice of 

 last year's formation was hanging on the 

 rocks. Whether any body of it exists at a 

 distance from the shore, we could not de- 

 termine. 



The land around Cape Barrow, and to 

 Detention Harbour, consists of steep craggy 

 mountains of granite, rising so abruptly from 

 the water's edge, as to admit few landing- 

 places even for a canoe. The higher parts 

 attain an elevation of fourteen or fifteen 

 hundred feet, and the whole is entirely 

 destitute of vegetation. 



On the morning of the 27th, the ice re- 

 maining stationary at the entrance, we went 

 to the bottom of the harbour, and carried 

 the canoes and cargoes about a mile and a 

 half across the point of land that forms the 

 east side of it ; but the ice was not more 

 favourable there for our advancement than 

 at the place we had left. It consisted of 

 small pieces closely packed together by the 

 wind, extending along the shore, but leaving 

 a clear passage beyond the chain of islands 



