coasted the continent until the 6th of September, when they stood at sunset for the coast of Victoria Land.

"We had never," says Simpson," seen anything more brilliant than the phosphoric gleaming of the waves when darkness set in. The boats seemed to cleave a flood of molten silver, and the spray, dashed from their bows before the fresh breeze, fell back like showers of diamonds into the deep. It was a cold night, and when we at last made the land, cliffs faced with eternal ice obliged us to run on for a couple of leagues before we could take the shore with safety. The coast, which we explored for upwards of a hundred and fifty miles, is incomparably the boldest we met with. Often, near the shore, no bottom could be found within thirty-five fathoms, and the blue colour of the water everywhere indicated its profound depth. There are several noble bays, the largest of which, north-west of Cape Alexander, is twenty miles wide, and equally deep, backed by snow-clad mountains."

Having reached the extreme point seen by Simpson the preceding year, the explorers again crossed the strait, and reentered the Copper-mine River on the 16th of September, having accomplished the longest boat voyage ever performed in polar waters, the distance traversed being upwards of sixteen hundred miles. Fort Confidence was reached on the 24th, and on the 26th they embarked on Great Bear Lake, on their way to the Mackenzie River, and were soon beyond the border of the Ice King's dreary realm.

CHAPTER XV.

SIR GEORGE BACK'S VOYAGE TO FOX CHANNEL-FRUSTRATION OF ITS OBJECTS BY ICE-DR. RAE'S VOYAGE TO REPULSE BAY-WINTER ON RAE ISTHMUS-EXPLORATION OF MELVILLE PENINSULA.

N 1836 the British Government, at the instance of the Geographical Society, refitted the Terror, and appointed Captain Back to the command, with instructions to proceed to Wager River or Repulse Bay; where, leaving the ship, he was to proceed with a large party across the intervening land to

the eastern shore of Regent Inlet, and there divide his force, sending one division northward to Hecla and Fury Strait, while the other pursued the coast line to the mouth of Back River, and thence to Point Turnagain. It was thought that this exploration might be completed in one season, and Back was enjoined to make every effort to return to England in the autumn of the same year. But the Almighty Disposer of events had ruled otherwise.

The expedition left Chatham on the 14th of June, and crossed Davis Strait on the 28th of July. Off Resolution Island they became involved in a dense fog, which, with the masses of ice tossed about by the waves, rendered their situation one of considerable danger; and on entering Hudson Strait they encountered contrary winds and much drift ice, upon which, in spite of all their care, the ship sometimes drove with a

concussion that made all the bells ring, and nearly threw them off their feet or seats. They reached Salisbury Island on the 14th of August, and Back then determined to sail through the Frozen Strait to Repulse Bay. On the 18th, their progress was arrested by the packing of the ice, which experienced seamen, who had made whaling voyages to the shores of Greenland, declared to be heavier than any they had ever seen before. It seemed to consist of numerous floes wedged together, and piled up in rugged masses to the height of fifteen or sixteen feet.

About midnight, however, some large masses of ice were observed to be drifting away, and in the course of a few hours a path was open through what had seemed an impenetrable barrier. Their progress was slow, however, as the navigation was still obstructed, and they had often to tack to avoid the larger masses of ice. The land showed blue in the distance, affording a beautiful and agreeable contrast to the glaring whiteness of the ice around them, heaped up in every variety of form, here in shadow, and there reflecting the tints of the sun-dyed sky. In this situation the ship remained several days, when a strong wind broke up the ice, and set her free. Cape Comfort was seen on the evening of the 13th of September, but next day the wind blew adversely, and drove the ice upon the ship, the larger masses crushing the smaller ones into fragments, and being forced by the wind one upon another. The ship received some severe nips, and drifted with the ice towards the land, where frowning masses of black rock had now succeeded to the blue hills seen at a greater distance.

"At this time," says Back, "we appeared to be not more than four miles from the land, which was broken into exposed bays, utterly without shelter from the north, and blocked up with close-packed ice. Not a pool of water was visible in any direction; to the mercy of Providence alone could we look

Back in the Frozen Strait.

181

for rescue from our perilous. situation." To return to England that year was impossible; the only question was whether they could reach Repulse Bay, so as to be able to commence the overland journey to Regent Inlet in the following spring. During the remainder of September, the ship drifted backward and forward with the ice, as impelled by the wind or the current, and the attempt to reach Repulse Bay was at length abandoned as hopeless. All that could be done was to make such provision as was practicable for the safety of the vessel.

The plan of cutting a dock in a large floe of ice, in which she would be tolerably safe as long as the floe held together, was about to be executed, when a strong gale again separated the whole body of ice into single masses, tossing some into heaps, and grinding others into small pieces, and driving the whole into the Frozen Strait. The ship drifted with the ice, which continued in motion till the 20th of November; but being fast frozen into a large floe, upon which walls and covered passages of snow had been constructed to protect ship and crew from the wind, she remained tolerably secure. She was not far from the shore, where secure bays and creeks were apparently within reach; but it would have been a vain labour to have attempted to cut a passage to one of them, as the ice, from its broken and packed character, would have filled it up as fast as it was made.

On the 22nd of December, a furious storm arose so suddenly that several of the men who were on the ice had their faces frost-bitten before they could regain the ship. Yet the temperature was only thirty degrees below freezing point, these painful effects being due to the wind, which soon rose to a hurricane, and covered the ship with snow-drift. The topmasts quivered, and the lee rigging was forced out like a bow. the 24th, the storm abated, and it was then found that the ship

On

had been driven into the Frozen Strait, twelve or fourteen miles to the eastward of Cape Comfort. There she remained nearly six months, the monotony of the long dreary winter being relieved only by playing football upon the ice, or swinging on a rope slung from the bowsprit, when the weather permitted, and the attendance of the men at an evening school superintended by Lieutenant Smyth, and visited occasionally by Captain Back.

The great ice floe in which the ship was imbedded at length began to crack, and on the 17th of February it opened from the edge to the stern of the ship, and from its eastern brink to her bows. Gaps opened in the snow-walls about the ship; a crashing, grinding, and rumbling noise was heard around and beneath the ice; and fresh cracks appeared in the floe. The ice was breaking up; and the shattered snow-walls, the broken arches of the covered passages, the cracks in the floe, and the rocking masses of ice, were suggestive of an Arctic earthquake. The ship creaked and groaned as she rocked about with the ice; and the men, even the scurvy-stricken invalids, rushed upon deck, expecting that she would be crushed by the pressure of the ice. In anticipation of such a disaster, blankets, clothing, and provisions were got upon the deck; but the ice, though it several times closed upon the vessel with great force, raised her up, and many of the opposing masses passed under her.

In this critical situation she remained until the night of, the 1st of March, when, after an interval of repose, the bergs and floes surrounding her were again violently agitated, tumbling one over another with a frightful noise, and pressing upon her as violently as ever. Then another pause ensued, and a faint Aurora illuminated the sky near the zenith. Presently the elemental war was renewed with redoubled fury, and huge masses of ice rolled down upon the ship with a violence that