THE ICE-PACK. 



455 



make passage over it, down through soft snow we went till our 

 feet rested on stones, which sometimes proved firm and sometimes 

 proved man-traps. JSTow and then we sunk thigh deep, our feet 

 dropping into chinks, and becoming quite firmly wedged therein. 

 As we wound our zigzag way up the steep mountain, I was ex- 

 pecting every moment that my volunteer companion would refuse 

 to go farther, but in this I was happily mistaken. He was a 

 match for me. 



" I was rejoiced to find, as we drew near the top, that the snow 

 became sufficiently hard to bear us up, thus enabling us to make 

 better progress. The summit was finally reached, and a moment's 

 look around was sufficient to repay me for all the efforts I had 

 made to gain that point. Field Bay, Davis's Strait, Frobisher 

 Bay, and Kingaite were within sight. I was surprised at the 

 height we had evidently gained. Lady Franklin Island, out in 



FIELD BAY AND D AVIS' S STEAIT, FEOM THE HEIGHTS BY BAYAED TAYLOE PASS. 



Davis's Strait, Monumental Island, and the islands of the extreme 

 land between Frobisher Bay and Field Bay, which I visited last 

 winter, loomed up as I had never seen them before at so great a 

 distance from them, showing that the high land on which I was 

 was high indeed. 



" I took the spy-glass, and proceeded to make a prolonged ob- 

 servation. I first directed the glass toward the vessel, which 

 was at a distance of seven miles ; I then directed it to Davis's 

 Strait. This I saw wfts filled with a heavy pack. I swept with 

 the instrument along down said strait to the extremity of Hall's 



