VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
181 
CHAPTER VIII. 
JOURNEY ACROSS MELVILLE ISLAND TO THE NORTHERN SHORE, AND RETURN 
TO THE SHIPS BY A DIFFERENT ROUTE. 
1 HE weather being favourable on the morning of the 1st of June, I made 1 8*20. 
such arrangements as were necessary, previous to my departure on our 
intended journey. I directed Lieutenants Liddon and Beechey to proceed Thurs. 1. 
with all possible despatch in the equipment of the ships for sea, having them 
ready to sail by the end of June, in order that we might be able to take 
advantage of any favourable alteration in the state of the ice at an earlier 
period than present appearances allowed us to anticipate. 
The party selected to accompany me, out of the numerous volunteers on 
this occasion, consisted of Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, and Reid, 
Serjeant M‘Mahon, of the Marines, Serjeant Martin, of the Artillery, and 
three seamen and two Marines, belonging to both ships, making a total of 
twelve, including myself. We were supplied with provisions for three weeks, 
according to the daily proportion of one pound of biscuit, two-thirds of a 
pound of Donkin’s preserved meat, one ounce of salep powder, one ounce of 
sugar, and half a pint of spirits, for each man. Two tents, of the kind called 
in the army horsemen’s tents, were made of blankets, with two boarding- 
pikes, fixed across at each end, and a ridge rope along the top, which, 
with stones laid upon the foot of the blankets, made a very comfortable and 
portable shelter. These tents, with the whole of the provisions, together with 
a conjuror or cooking apparatus, and a small quantity of wood for fuel, amount- 
ing in the whole to eight hundred pounds, were carried upon a strong but light 
