346 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



due the flames, but having only snow to throw on it, it was found impossible to 

 extinguish it. The snow, however, covered the astronomical instruments, and 

 secured them from the fire. The thermometer was at the time 44° below zero, 

 and the faces of nearly the whole party grew white and frost-bitten after five 

 minutes' exposure, so that the surgeon and two or three assistants were busily 

 employed in rubbing the faces of their comrades with snow, while the latter 

 were working might and main to extinguish the flames. One poor fellow, in 

 his anxiety to save the dipping-needle, carried it out without putting on his 

 gloves ; his hands were so benumbed in consequence, that when plunged into a 

 basin of cold water it instantly froze, from the intense coldness imparted to it, 

 and it was found necessary to resort, some time after, to the amputation of a 

 part of four fingers on one hand and three on the other. 



February 3 was a memorable day — the sun being visible from the maintop 

 of the "Hecla," from whence it was last seen on November 11. The weather 

 got considerably milder in March ; on the 6th the thermometer rose to zero, 

 for the first time since December 17, and on April 30 it stood at the freezing- 

 point, which it had not done since September 12. 



At length May appeared, bringing the long summer's day of the high north- 

 ern latitudes ; but as many a week must still jDass before the vessels could move 

 out of their ice-bound harbor. Parry started on June 1 to explore the interior 

 of the island, which at this early period of the season still wore a very dreary 

 aspect. But such was the rapidity of vegetation, that by the end of the month 

 the land, now completely clear of snow, was covered with the purple-colored 

 saxifrage in blossom, with mosses, and with sorrel, and the grass was from two 

 to three inches long. The pasturage appeared to be excellent in the valleys, 

 and, to judge by the numerous tracks of musk-oxen and reindeer, there was no 

 lack of animals to enjoy its abundance. 



It was not before August 1 that the ships were released from their ten 

 months' blockade in Winter Harbor, when Parry once more stood boldly for 

 the west ; but no amount of skill or patience c(mld penetrate the obstinate mass- 

 es of ice that blocked the passage, or insure the safety of the vessels under the 

 repeated shocks sustained from them. Finding the barriers insuperable, he 

 gave way, and steering homeward, reached London on November 3, 1820, 

 where, as may well be imagined, his reception was most enthusiastic. 



While Parry was engaged on this wonderful voyage, Lieutenant Franklin 

 and Dr. Richardson, accompanied by two midshipmen, George Back and Robert 

 Hood, and a sailor, John Hepburn, to whom were added during the course of 

 the journey a troop of Canadians and Indians, were penetrating by land to the 

 mouth of the Coppermine River for the purpose of examining the unexplored 

 shores of the Polar Sea to the east. An idea of the difficulties of this under- 

 taking may be formed, when I mention that the travellers started from Fort 

 York, Hudson's Bay, on August 30, 1819, and after a boat voyage of 700 miles 

 up the Saskatchewan arrived before winter at Fort Cumberland. The next 

 winter found them 700 miles farther on their journey, established during the 

 extreme cold at Fort Enterprise, as they called a log-house built by them on 

 Winter Lake, where they spent ten months, depending upon fishing and the 



