560 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



ountelik, and Kodlunarn, all was packed ice, and in such a state 

 that no boat could be forced through it. The presence of this ice 

 is accounted for in this way : the heavy, incessant gale of July 

 24th and 25th had driven the pack hard on to the west side of 

 Davis's Strait, and when, on August 2d, another gale prevailed, 

 coming from the southeast, it drove the rattling pack up into Fro- 

 bisher Bay, filling it almost solid, except close inshore between 

 Bear Sound and Yictoria Bay. My hopes, therefore, to accom- 

 plish what I designed in making this final trip were doomed to 

 be disappointed ; but, while an opportunity remained for doing 

 any thing, I determined to thoroughly examine the remarkable 

 bay in which we then were — Victoria Bay — and its surroundings. 

 This I did on the following day. The weather, however, was 

 very bad, and it was with difficulty I could accomplish any thing 

 at all. Then, too, we had to guard against being shut up in the 

 pack; and our critical situation became so evident that, on the 

 morning of the 5th, we saw that to delay our return a moment 

 longer would be sheer presumption. Accordingly, at an early 

 hour, we started, the whole company in the boat (the two Idas 

 were left at Cape Ood-loo-ong) ; but we had not gone far before 

 we met the pack drifting in with the tide, and blocking up our 

 way. And now began the usual work of hauling the boat over 

 ice, tracking her through narrow channels, turning now to the 

 right, then to the left, going forward a while, then back to anoth- 

 er opening, and cutting away obstructions. 



Several hours of heavy labor were consumed in lifting, push- 



