266 A rctic and A utarctic Exploration [part i 
Green, ice quartermaster, was captain of the sledge, an 
excellent man ; Henry Giddy, boatswain's mate, was almost 
equally good. May 4th, 1853, was a day to be remembered, 
the beginning of the greatest sledge journey but one on 
record. The sledges were drawn up in two lines with 
their banners displayed, and started. M'Clintock and 
his depot sledge advanced over the land to Cape Nias. 
Mecham and Nares went away under sail to the westward, 
with a fair wind. 
M'Clintock and De Bray, a young French naval officer 
lent to the expedition, proceeded with the depot sledge 
along the north coast to Cape Fisher, the extreme point seen 
by Parry. Here De Bray and the depot sledge returned, 
while M'Clintock turned south to make sure of connecting 
his work with that of Mecham. He travelled along the 
west coast of Melville Island and considered that it pre- 
sented the most beautiful Arctic scenery he had ever seen. 
A great unknown land had long been in sight to the west- 
ward to which he gave the name of Prince Patrick Island. 
It was on May 14th, 1853, that M'Clintock landed on his 
new discovery at Point Wilkie, named after his old sledge 
captain, and geologically a place of great importance, as 
exhibiting a patch of lias formation with fossils. The 
north end of Prince Patrick Island was reached on the 
nth June, and M'Clintock went on to some islands which 
he named the Polynia Isles. In the offing there was a line 
of very heavy pack ice, with hummocks 35 ft. high. 
The most northern point reached was 77 0 43', and here, 
sending back the sledge to the depot, the explorer 
proceeded down the western coast with a satellite sledge 
over flat sand-banks, with a continuous line of stupendous 
hummocks in the offing. They rejoined the parent sledge 
on the 25th June. M'Clintock's next discovery was named 
Emerald Isle, most of the usual Arctic plants and abun- 
dant moss being found on it. The return journey entailed 
terrible work owing to the water on the floes. 
M'Clintock had been away 105 days and the sledge 
had gone over 1030 geographical miles in 99 marches, at 
a rate of 10J miles a day. 
The examination of bays and inlets with the satellite 
sledge amounted to 62J miles, making the whole distance 
1210 geographical or 1408 statute miles. The lowest 
