112 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



stoical under all circumstances, no matter how startling they may 

 be, but here was something that completely upset his equanimity. 

 After nearly half an hour's attempt to understand the lively sub- 

 stance before him, and to grasp it, he gave up, and also lost his 

 temper. He burst out in some broken words, like oaths he had 

 heard on board ship, declaring the d — 1 was in it, and nothing else. 



A short time after our arrival at this anchorage I had a narrow 

 escape of my life. It was most providential. No other arm but 

 the Almighty's could have shielded me from so imminent danger 

 as that to which I had been exposed. In the afternoon I went 

 clown seaward for the purpose of examining some rocks. I had 

 with me my revolver, pencil, and portfolio. The stratification of 

 these rocks was very remarkable, and for several rods I saw a 

 quartz vein running as straight as a line N.N.W. and S.S.E. Its 

 dip was 60°, and in thickness one and a half to two inches. Ev- 

 ery where around, the fallen ruins of mountains stared me in the 

 face. I was perfectly astonished at the rapidity with which huge 

 rocks had evidently been rent to pieces. I also saw, standing by 

 themselves, square pillars of stone, the strata of which were com- 

 pletely separated, so that I could take them off one by one, as 

 leaves of paper. Some were an inch, half an inch, two inches, and 

 others six inches thick. Anxious to obtain some specimens, I 

 was engaged, with my knife, digging out some quartz and gold- 

 like metal, slightly bedded in a fresh -broken rock before me,, 

 when, as I leaned forward, the revolver fell from my belt, and in- 

 stantly exploded close to my hand and face ! For the moment I 

 thought myself dangerously wounded, so great was the pain I ex- 

 perienced in my hand and forehead ; but the next instant I ascer- 

 tained that the ball had just cleared me, merely forcing the pow- 

 der into my hand, forehead, and round my right eye. It was a 

 narrow escape, and a warning thereafter to be more careful how I 

 left the hammer of any gun or pistol I had about me. 



The rocks about here were indeed very remarkable. One pile 

 consisted entirely of mica, quartz, and feldspar ; and the nearest 

 approach I can give to its appearance is to let the imagination 

 conceive that the feldspar was in a state like putty, and worked 

 up into various uncouth figures, the spaces between each filled up 

 with mica and quartz. Then would there be an appearance sim- 

 ilar to what I observed on these rocks, only that ages and . ages 

 should be added to cut out deeply the mica and quartz, leaving 

 the pure quartz veins almost unaffected. 



