296 
FRANKLIN AND LAFAYETTE. 
brain, though it knocked her down; but she was still 
able to climb on her mother’s body and try to defend 
it still, “her mouth bleeding like a gutter-spout.” 
They were obliged to despatch her with stones. 
After skinning the old one they gashed its body, and 
the dogs fed upon it ravenously. The little one they 
cached for themselves on the return; and, with diffi¬ 
culty taking the dogs off, pushed on, crossing a small 
bay which extended from the level ground and had 
still some broken ice upon it. Hans was tired out, and 
was sent on shore to follow the curve of the bay, where 
the road was easier. 
The ice over the shallow bay which Morton crossed 
was hummocked, with rents through it, making very 
hard travel. lie walked on over this, and saw an 
opening not quite eight miles across, separating the two 
islands, which I have named after Sir John Franklin 
and his comrade Captain Crozier. He had seen them 
before from the entrance of the larger bay,—Lafayette 
Bay,—but had taken them for a single island, the chan¬ 
nel between them not being then in sight. As he 
neared the northern land, at the east shore -which led 
to the cape, (Cape Constitution,) which terminated 
his labors, he found only a very small ice-foot, under 
the lee of the headland and crushed up against the 
side of the rock. He went on; but the strip of 
land-ice broke more and more, until about a mile 
from the cape it terminated altogether, the waves 
breaking with a cross sea directly against the cape. 
The wind had moderated, but was still from the north, 
