VOYAGE OF COMMANDER MOORE-WINTER IN BEHRING STRAIT- PERILOUS JOURNEY ON THE ICE-SEARCH ALONG THE COAST-DISCOVERY OF THE HERALD ISLANDS-GLIMPSE OF WRANGELL LAND-TWO WINTERS IN KOTZEBUE SOUND.

ET us now follow the expeditions which had undertaken the search for the Franklin expedition from the westward. The earliest of these was that of Commander Moore, who sailed from Sheerness on the 1st of January, 1848, with instructions to sail round Cape Horn, call at Panama, where he was

to be joined by Captain Kellett, who was then engaged in surveying the shores of the Pacific, and proceed to Behring Strait. Both vessels were to push along the coast of America as far as possible to the eastward, and, on meeting the ice, to send out boating parties, and return to Behring Strait, where Commander Moore was to winter, while Captain Kellett cruised in the Pacific.

The expedition reached the Sandwich Islands in the middle of August, and on the 13th of September sighted the island of St. Lawrence, which was covered with snow. The wind, which had hitherto been favourable, then changed to north-east, and Commander Moore's brig proved such a wretched sailer that on the 16th she was thirty miles to the southward of her position on the preceding day. The current running strongly

Wintering among the Tchuktches.

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in the same direction as the wind, Commander Moore took his vessel into a bay on the coast of the Tchuktche country, and invited his officers to a council, at which it was resolved that it was more advisable at that time of year to remain where they were than to attempt to push northward.

On the 23rd new ice began to form in the bay, and the position of the vessel exposing it to the wind, she was steered through a channel a mile wide into an inner harbour, surrounded on three sides by lofty mountains, and open only on the south, where seven Tchuktche huts stood on a low shore. As these people seemed disposed to be friendly, and possessed a large herd of tame reindeer, it was thought that they might be useful in providing the crew with fresh meat, and enabling them to acquire some knowledge of the native language. The ship was dismantled and housed, but as the new ice was for nearly two months constantly broken up by the wind and the waves, she was not frozen in until the 18th of November.

During the winter the explorers received daily visits from their Tchuktche neighbours, who crossed the ice on sledges drawn by dogs, and besides supplying them with as much venison as they required, in exchange for guns, knives, and tobacco, communicated to many of the officers and seamen a considerable knowledge of their language. Aboard the ship school was held, after the example set by Parry, and in fine weather the men took exercise upon the ice, and amused themselves with various athletic games.

They had been six months in the bay when a report reached them that a vessel had been wrecked near East Cape, and, though the weather was most inclement and unfavourable for travelling, three non-commissioned officers set out upon the ice, accompanied by two native guides, to endeavour to ascertain its truth. On the second day of their perilous journey, when they

were fifty miles from the ship, a violent snow-storm came on, and the air became so thick that the guides could not see where they were going, and were forced to acknowledge that they were lost. They halted, therefore, until the following day, when they resumed their journey; but, after floundering through deep snow-drifts for some time, they again came to a stand, uncertain of their whereabouts, and benumbed with cold.

The fourth morning dawned, and the prospect was no brighter. They had wandered away from the coast during the thick weather, and were lost on the trackless wastes of snow and ice between the shores of Asia and those of America. Fortunately one of the party had with him a pocket compass, and by its guidance they succeeded in reaching Cape Chaplin, suffering terribly from fatigue and cold. One of them had temporarily lost the use of his legs from the latter cause, and was reduced to a pitiable condition by violent pains in his stomach and bowels. After lighting a fire, and cooking their much-needed supper, it was resolved, therefore, that the sick man should return to the ship, accompanied by one of the guides, and the remainder of the party push on to East Cape.

This resolution was carried into effect on the following day, and the remainder of the journey was accomplished without much difficulty, or encountering any serious dangers. The party did not, indeed, reach East Cape, for on sighting it the guide refused to proceed farther, alleging as the reason that a feud existed between his tribe and the dwellers in that neighbourhood, and that it would be dangerous for him to do so; but the officers ascertained from the natives that a singlemasted vessel had been wrecked on the American coast, and had drifted over to the neighbourhood of East Cape.

Early in April, the outer edge of the ice in the bay began to break up, and the ship was prepared for sea.

The ice of