19 
Sketched by E. 3I'Cormick, R.N. 
Mount Providence, with Eden Point and Cape Osborn, N.N.W., as seen from the summit of Owen Point. 
E.S.E., and being the only apparent peak, would, therefore, seem to be 
Mount Franklin, as there is no hill whatever representing it in the position 
in which it is laid down in the chart inland of Baring Bay. A line of 
hummocks of ice as if aground appears in Baring Bay, about two leagues 
from shore, which may possibly cover a shoal or very low islet. Distant land 
in the Queen's Channel, apparently Baillie Hamilton Island, &c., bore from 
N. by E. to N.E. by E. Cape Osborn bore N.N.W., and the Black Mount 
above our boat N.W. by N. Whilst taking a sketch of the bays and distant 
points, the ice quartermaster and some of the boat's crew meantime erected a 
cairn on the north side of the hill, the others being employed cooking dinner, 
&c., preparatory to our departure. We finished the cairn at 3.30. p.m., and 
placed beneath it a tin cylinder, containing a record of our proceedings thus 
far. On descending the hill we discovered an ancient Esquimaux encampment 
on its acclivity, consisting of a pile of fissile rocks of semi-circular form in 
front of a natural wall of the stratified rock which jutted out from the side of 
the hilL We dug beneath it, but found nothing. The rock, a dark brown 
coloured limestone, highly crystalline, and the surface embossed with the 
elegant scarlet lichen {Lecanora elegans). On our return we had our usual 
meal of cold bacon and biscuit, with some tea. 
At 5 P.M. we struck the tent to commence our return to the boat, the state of 
the weather unfortunatelyprecludinganyastronomicalobservationsbeingtaken for 
fixing the positions of the land, which have evidently been laid down much in error 
in the chart. Passing one of the largest lakes I had several shots at pair of red- 
throated divers ; they had a young one on the lake, which I shot, and started 
again at 6.20. p.m. We encamped for the night in the midst of the unsheltered 
waste of snow, nearly half-way back to our boat at 10.30. p.m. 
Saturday 28th. — At 8 a.m., breakfasted, struck the tent, and started again at 
9.30 A.M. This was about the most uncomfortable night we had yet passed, 
blowing a hard gale of wind, accompanied by a fall of snow, and clouds 
of drift, and so cold that we could not get warm all night. The wind finding its 
way under the tent, shaking it so violently, that Ave expected every moment 
the poles would give way, and the canvass come down upon us for a coverlet. 
The thermometer stood at 29°. The watch during the night heard a distant 
sound, like the bellowing of cattle. Probably, the musk ox, whose foot prints I 
fell in with yesterday, but concealed from view, by the ridge of hills inland of 
us : for sounds may be heard at a great distance, in the highly rarified state of 
the air, in the still solitudes of these regions. This snowy desert was here and 
there dotted over with boulders of rock, richly ornamented with the beautiful 
and bright scarlet lichen, and intersected by numerous rivulets and lakelets, 
some of the largest of which were now half frozen over ; and the ice on the less 
rapid fresh water courses permitted the sledge being quickl}^ drawn over by the 
whole party without breaking. At 11 a.m. we rounded a deep curvature in the 
shores of the bay, the wind edging round to its old quarter in the N.W., snowing 
with a strong drift. Saw three or four tern, whose vociferous clamour over 
C 2 
