2 
the ice for the floe edge, where my boat was awaiting me ; and hoisting the sail 
with a strong breeze from the S.W., ran alongside of the " Prince Albert," 
standing off and on between Cape Riley and Beechey Island. Hepburn, the 
faithful follower and companion of the gallant Franklin in his ever-memorable 
journey along the shores of the Polar Sea, was on board this little vessel. I 
had not seen him since our first meeting in Tasmania, on my arrival there, — 
in the very same " Erebus " of which I am now in search, — whilst engaged in 
the Antarctic Expedition, at the time Sir John Franklin was governor of the 
colony. In passing so close I could not resist the impulse to jump on board, 
and congratulate this spirited old veteran with a hearty shake of the hand on 
his safe return, thus far, from so arduous an undertaking in search of his old 
commander, 
A sudden change in the weather having taken place yesterday, accompanied 
by a heavy fall of snow, covering all the hills with one uniform mantle of white, 
too plainly heralding the setting in of winter, rendered my visit a very brief 
one ; and shoving off again, we rounded Beechey Island in a snowstorm, and 
were compelled to lower the sail and pull through some loose stream ice, 
(coming out of the Wellington Channel,) to Cape Spencer, where we had our 
dinner of cold bacon and biscuit, at 2 p.m. 
On doubling Innes Point, we fell in with a large quantity of drift ice, setting 
with the strong current, which runs here from the N.W. rapidly down channel, 
and apparently extending across to the opposite shore of Cornwallis Land, leaving 
a narrow passage of open water along the North Devon side, which I availed 
myself of, pushing onwards between the ice and the land. The shingle beach, 
between Innes and Lovell Points, is margined by a low glacial formation, giving 
the latter point a white berg-like termination. 
At 6 P.M. I landed to examine a remarkable conical heap of shingle, not 
unlike a cairn, as it peered above the snow. It seemed to have been thrown up 
at the outlet of a water-course to the sea, the bed of which was now dry ; but 
the cleft in the ridge of rocks through which it passed was roofed over with- 
ice and snow, forming a cavern beneath. 
On entering, a beautiful grotto disclosed itself, the floor glittering vnth 
countless globular masses of frozen drops of water, and the roof with pendant 
icicles clear as rock crystal. The interior of the cave, which extended to a 
greater distance than I had leisure to follow it up, was so encrusted over with 
these aqueous stalactites and stalagmites, that the whole surface sparkled 
through the faint gleam of light admitted, as brilliantly as if studded with 
huge diamonds. 
The weather suddenly cleared up fine, but the wind shifting round to N.N.W. 
dead against us, hemmed us in between the ice and the land, within a bight, 
leaving open water in mid-channel, from which we were cut off by a belt of 
heavy floe-pieces, margined by much sludge, and about half a mile in breadth. 
Our further progress being thus arrested, we landed at 7 p.m. to take our tea, in 
the hope that by the time that we had finished this refreshing repast, a passage 
might have opened out for us. At 8 p.m., however, the ice was jamming us into 
the curve in the coast closer than ever. I therefore determined on making an 
attempt to force the boat through it, by poling her along with the oars and 
boarding pikes. In this way we succeeded in getting about half way through, 
when the swell increased so much as we neared the margin, and the heavy 
pressure to which the boat was subjected between the larger floe-pieces became 
so great, that we had to haul her up on the ice, after taking everything out of 
her, to preserve her from being stove in. We then endeavoured to drag her 
over the larger pieces, with the intention of embarking the provisions and other 
things, as soon as she was launched into the loose sludge outside. Whilst thus 
laboriously employed, the making of the flood tide augmented the swell and 
commotion amongst the floe-pieces so much, pressing them together with such 
violence, that one of the largest and thickest pieces on which we had deposited 
our provisions, suddenly parted in the centre, threatening destruction to every- 
thing upon it. 
In this critical position I was reluctantly compelled to relinquish the attempt 
for the present, and after landing everything in safety by means of the sledge, 
we dragged the boat over the floe-pieces and landed her upon the beach. It was 
midnight before we pitched the tent for the night on a ridge of shingle, after 
