2G4 
BROKEN DOWN. 
hung round it began to separate, and we Avere able b\' 
oars and boat-hooks to force our battered little flotilla 
clear of them. To our joyful surprise, avc soon found 
ourselves in a stretch of the land-water wide enough to 
giA r e us roAving-room, and with the assured promise of 
land close ahead. 
As Ave neared it, avo saAv the same forbidding Avail 
of belt-ice as at Sutherland and Hakluyt. We pulled 
along its margin, seeking in vain either an opening of 
access or a nook of shelter. The gale rose, and the ice 
began to drive again; but there Avas nothing to be 
done but get a grapnel out to the belt and hold on for 
the rising tide. The Hope stove her bottom and lost 
part of her Aveathcr-boarding, and all the boats Avere 
badly chafed. It Avas an awful storm; and it Avas not 
without constant exertion that Ave kept afloat, baling 
out the scud that broke oA'er us, and Avarding off the 
ice Avith boat-hooks. 
At three o’clock the tide Avas high enough for us to 
scale the ice-cliff’. One by one Ave pulled up the boats 
upon a narrow shelf, the whole sixteen of us uniting at 
each pull. We Avere too much worn down to unload; 
but a deep and narrow gorge opened in the cliffs almost 
at the spot Avhere we clambered up; and, as Ave pushed 
the boats into it on an even keel, the rocks seemed to 
close above our heads, until an abrupt turn in the 
course of the ravine placed a protecting cliff betAveen 
us and the gale. We Avere completely encaved. 
Just as we had brought in the last boat, the Red 
‘Erie, and Avere shoring her up with blocks of ice, a long- 
