298 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Journey to the Unknown, or "Dreaded Land." — Slender Outfit. — Abundance of 

 Seal-meat soon taken. — Bad Weather. — Sylvia Island. — Lupton Channel. — 

 Jones's Tower. — A Butterfly. — Tupic Encampment. — Magnificent Iceberg. — 

 Dine on raw Seal. — New Land. — Remarkable Gap. — Cape Daly. — Hummocky 

 Ice. — Ancient Piles of Stones. — Discover a new Channel. — Dr. Kane's Channel. 

 — Immense number of Seals. — Great Slaughter. — Koodloo still fears the "Dreaded 

 Land." — Charming a Seal. — Abundance of Animal Life. — Arrive at the extreme 

 Land. — Ascend a high Mountain. — Ancient Monuments. — Extensive View. — 

 Davis's Straits. — Frobisher Bay. — Meta Incognita. — Resolution Island, and high 

 Land to the North. — Sudden appearance of a Steam-ship. — Disappointment. — 

 Mount Warwick. — A Bear-hunt. — North Foreland. — Return Journey. — Mode 

 of making Traces and Walrus Lines. — Note-book Lost. — Its Recovery. — Heavy 

 Snow-storm. — Encamp on a large Island. — Ancient Dwellings of Innuits. — Rapid 

 Journey back to the Ship. — Dangerous Traveling. — Ice breaking up. — Safe ar- 

 rival on Board. — Means of sustaining Life in these Regions. 



On Wednesday, the 5th day of June, 1861, a day or two after 

 the departure of the Sekoselar Innuits, I prepared myself for an- 

 other trip, intending this time to visit what the Innuits term the 

 "Dreaded Land," which comprises all the islands eastward of 

 Bear's Sound and Lupton Channel, between Frobisher Bay and 

 Field Bay. As was necessary, I left on board the ship some in- 

 structions how to find me and my companions in case the ice, 

 which was becoming very precarious, should break up, and leave 

 us on some of the islands unable to get away. My intention was 

 to fall back upon the land should the ice break up, and then, if 

 we had to be sought, it would be necessary to look for us some- 

 where between Hall's Island and Bear Sound.* 



On the 5th of June, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, in 

 company with Ebierbing and Koodloo, I left Bescue Harbor, and 

 set out for the " Dreaded Land." Our sledge was drawn by six 

 dogs, just half the number that such a journey required. Our 

 progress was slow ; for, besides the want of a sufficient team, we 

 saw many seals, the ice being dotted over with them, and the In- 



* Hall's Island, lat. 62° 33' N., long. 64° 00' W., and Bear Sound, lat. 62° 31' N., 

 long. 64° 50' W., were so named by Frobisher; the former after Christopher Hall, 

 master of the Gabriel, of the expedition of 1576; the latter after James Bear, mas- 

 ter of the Michael, one of the expedition ships of 1577. 



