ON ARCTIC EXPLORATION. 
447 
and Discovery, and of the prospects of a favourable season for their 
passage northwards up Smith Sound. 
According to the instructions of the Arctic Committee of the 
Admiralty, it was proposed for the two vessels to press north to 
about the position of Hall's winter quarters in the Polaris. The 
depot ship, the Discovery, was to attempt there to winter, about 
lat. 82°, and the advance ship, the Alert, was to push on, and 
winter, if possible, in some position not more than two hundred 
miles to the north of the Discovery. Cairns were to be erected, 
and documents carefully left behind in them or near them, on con- 
spicuous points of the coast, so as to afford a clue to any parties of 
search who might hereafter attempt to reach them. It might be 
deemed needful to pass a second winter, if the results obtained 
during the present spring and summer were not considered ade- 
quate. The commanders would not hesitate eventually to abandon 
the vessels, if needful, and to secure the safety of their crews 
by returning on foot along the shores of Smith Sound to the 
settlements of Greenland. 
Note. — Since the delivery of the above lecture, it is understood that the 
Pandora, under Captain Allen Young, is being prepared to proceed, about the 
26th of the present May, to the Smith Sound district, in order to attempt to 
bring back letters from the expedition. It was the intention of Capt. Nares 
that a party should be sent south this summer from the vessels. 
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