CHAPTER VIII.
Journey across Melville Island to the Northern Shore, and Return to the Ships by a different Route.
The weather being favourable on the morning of the 1st of June, I made such arrangements as were necessary previous to my departure on our intended journey. I directed Lieutenants Liddon and Beechey to proceed with all possible despatch in the equipment of the ships for sea, having them ready to sail by the end of June, in order that we might be able to take advantage of any favourable alteration in the state of the ice at an earlier period than present appearances allowed us to anticipate.
The party selected to accompany me, out of the numerous volunteers on this occasion, consisted of Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, Reid, and Sergeant McMahon, of the marines, Sergeant Martin, of the artillery, and three seamen and two marines belonging to both ships, making a total of twelve, including myself. We were supplied with provisions for three weeks, according to the daily proportion of one pound of biscuit, two thirds of a pound of preserved meat, one ounce of salep powder, one ounce of sugar, and half a pint of spirits for each man. Two tents, of the kind called in the army horsemen's tents, were made of blankets, with two boarding-pikes fixed across at each end, and a ridge-rope along the top, which, with stones laid upon the foot of the blankets, made a very comfortable and portable shelter. These tents, with the whole of the provisions, together with a conjuror or cooking apparatus, and a small quantity of wood for fuel, amounting on the whole to eight hundred pounds, were carried upon a strong but light cart constructed for the purpose: this method having been decided on as the most convenient for the country in which we were about to travel.
Each officer and man was also furnished with a blanket made into a bag, with a drawing-string at each end, a pair of spare shoes, and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a cap to sleep in. The clothing and blankets were carried on our backs in knapsacks, those of the officers weighing from seventeen to twenty-four pounds each, and one between every two men weighing twenty-four pounds, to be carried for half a day alternately.
At five P.M. we left the ships, accompanied by a large party of officers and men from each, who were desirous of relieving us from the weight of our knapsacks for an hour or two; and, having been cheered by the ships on our departure, we went round the head of the harbour, and ascended the northeast hill, our companions left us at eight P.M., and we proceeded across a level plain almost entirely covered with snow, which, however, was so hard as to make the travelling very good; and the cart was dragged along without difficulty. At eleven P.M. we came to three remarkable round hills; composed entirely of sand and masses of sandstone, and halted to dine close to the northward of them. Those parts of the land which were clear of snow appeared to be more productive than those in the immediate neighbourhood of Winter Harbour, the dwarf-willow, sorrel, and poppy being more abundant, and the moss more luxuriant; we, could not, however, collect a sufficient quantity of the slender wood of the willow, in a dry state, for the purpose of dissolving snow for water, and were therefore obliged to use a part of the fuel which we had provided for that purpose. The thermometer stood at 31° at midnight.
Having set off soon after midnight, at the distance of half a mile in a N.b.E. direction we came to a piece of frozen water, half a mile in length and two hundred yards wide, situated on the south side of the range of hills which bound the prospect from Winter Harbour. The ice on the surface of this lake or pond was in some parts nearly dissolved, and in all too soft to allow us to cross it. We halted at half past six A.M., and pitched the tents on the hardest ground we could find, but it became quite swampy in the course of the day. We killed seven ptarmigan, and saw two plovers and two deer, being the first we had met with this season, with a fawn so small as to leave no doubt of its having been dropped since the arrival of the female upon the island. They were so wild as not to allow us to approach them within a quarter of a mile. The day was fine, with light and variable airs; the thermometer stood at 34° in the shade at seven A.M., at which time it was unfortunately broken.
We again set forward at two A.M. on the 3d, crossing one or two ravines, running E.N.E. and W.S.W., in which there was a large collection of snow, but as yet no appearance of water in the bottom of them. Captain Sabine and myself, being considerably ahead of the rest of the party, had sat down to wait for them, when a fine reindeer came trotting up, and played round us for a quarter of an hour, within thirty yards. We had no gun, nor do I know that we should have killed it if we had, there being already as much weight upon the cart as the men could well drag, and having no fuel to spare for cooking; besides, we felt it would have been but an ill return for the confidence which he seemed willing to place in us. On hearing our people talking on the opposite side of the ravine, the deer immediately crossed over, and went directly up to them, with very little caution; and they being less scrupulous than we were, one or two shots were immediately fired at him, but without effect; on which he again crossed over to where we were sitting, approaching us nearer than before. As soon as we rose up and walked on, he accompanied us like a dog, sometimes trotting ahead of us, and then returning within forty or fifty yards. When we halted, at six A.M., to make the usual observations, he remained by us till the rest of the party came up, and then trotted off. The reindeer is by no means a graceful animal; its high shoulders, and an awkward stoop in its head, giving it rather a deformed appearance. Our new acquaintance had no horns; he was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a broad black rim round the eyes, and very white about the tail. We observed that, whenever he was about to set off, he made a sort of playful gambol, by rearing on his hind legs.
At two o'clock on the morning of the 4th we continued our journey to the northward, over the same snowy and level plain as before, than which it is impossible to conceive anything more dreary and uninteresting. It frequently happened that, for an hour together, not a single spot of uncovered ground could be seen. The breeze freshened up to a gale from the S.S.E. as we proceeded, and the men, as if determined not to forget that they were sailors, set a large blanket upon the cart as a sail, which, upon the present level ground, was found to be of material assistance. The snow was deep and rather soft, which made the travelling heavy; and as the wind produced a good deal of snowdrift, most of the bare patches of ground became covered up, so that, when our time for halting had arrived, not a piece of ground could be seen on which to pitch the tents. Captain Sabine and myself went forward to look out for a spot, and at length were fortunate to meet with one, on which there was just room for our little encampment. It was with some difficulty, by building a wall with stones and our knapsacks, that we prevented its being covered with snow before the party came up, which they did at half past seven A.M., having travelled ten miles in a N.W.b.N. direction.
By the time we had secured the tents the wind blew hard, with a continued fall, as well as drift of snow, so that we could not but consider ourselves fortunate in having met with a spot of ground in good time. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, we found the tents afford us very comfortable and sufficient shelter, the cart being tilted up to windward of them, so as to break up some measure the violence of the wind; and, when wrapped up, or, rather, enclosed in our blanket bags, we were generally quite warm enough to enjoy the most sound and refreshing repose.
It continued to blow and snow till seven P.M., when the wind having veered to the S.W., and become more moderate, we struck the tents; and having now placed the men's knapsacks on the cart, to enable them to drag with greater facility, we proceeded on our journey to the northward. We passed a narrow but deep ravine lying across our course, in some parts of which the snow reached nearly to a level with the banks, forming a kind of bridges or causeways, on one of which we crossed without difficulty. The men had hoisted one sail upon the cart at first setting off; but the wind being now, as they expressed it, "on the larboard quarter," a second blanket was rigged as a mainsail, to their great amusement as well as relief.
After crossing a second ravine, on the north side of which the ground rose considerably, we entered upon another snowy plain, where there was nothing to be seen in any direction but snow and sky. To make it the more dreary, a thick fog came on as the night advanced; and as this prevented our taking any mark more than fifty or a hundred yards ahead, we had to place the compass, by which we were now entirely travelling, upon the ground every five minutes; and as it traversed with great sluggishness, we made a very crooked and uncertain course. For more than two hours we did not pass a single spot of uncovered ground, nor even a stone projecting above the snow.
The fog continued too thick to allow us to move till six A.M., at which time we resumed our journey. There was a broad and distant haze-bow of very white and dazzling light directly opposite the sun. The weather being still too foggy to see more than a quarter of a mile ahead, it was with considerable difficulty that we could proceed on a tolerably straight course. To effect this, it was necessary to determine the point on which we were walking by the bearing of the sun, which was still visible, and the apparent time, and then to take a mark ahead by which our course was to be directed. From the thickness of the weather, however, it was necessary to repeat this operation every five or ten minutes, which, together with the uniform whiteness and intense glare of the snow, became so extremely painful to the eyes, that Mr. Fisher and myself, who went ahead as guides, soon became affected with snow blindness, and the headmost man at the cart, whose business it was constantly to watch our motions, began to suffer in a similar manner from the same cause.
It may, perhaps, be conceived, then, under these circumstances, how pleasing was the relief afforded by our seeing, at eight A.M., a stripe of black or uncovered land ahead, which proved to be the bank of a ravine fifty or sixty feet deep and three hundred yards wide, on the north side of which we pitched the tents, having made good only one mile and a half, the snow being so soft and deep as to make it difficult to drag the cart through it.
The latitude observed here was 75° 22' 43", and the longitude, by the chronometer, 111° 14' 26"; in which situation a cylinder of tin, containing an account of our visit, was deposited under a pile of stones eight feet high and seven feet broad at the base.
The wind increased to a fresh breeze from the S.S.E. on the 6th, with a sharp frost, making it very cold in the tents, which we therefore struck at four A.M., and at the distance of half a mile came to the summit of a hill overlooking what appeared to be a frozen sea before us. We then descended the hill, with the intention of pushing forward to determine whether the white and level space before us was the sea or not. We had not proceeded far, however, when the clouds began to gather heavily in the southeast, and shortly after snow and sleet began to fall. Being unwilling, therefore, to allow the men's clothes to be wet when there was no absolute occasion for it, we halted on a piece of dry ground, and, having built a wall six feet high to shelter us from the weather, pitched the tents very comfortably under the lee of it till the weather should allow us to proceed.
At six P.M., the wind having gradually got round to the N.N.E., and the weather being more clear and cold, I set out, accompanied by Messrs. Nias and Reid, and a quartermaster of the Griper, with the intention of examining the situation and appearance of the sea to the northward; leaving the rest of the party, several of whom were suffering from snow-blindness, though otherwise in good health, to remain quietly in the tents till our return. Having travelled N.N.W. a mile and a half through much deep snow, of which a good deal had fallen during the day, we came to some ice thrown up on the beach, having cracks in it parallel to the line of the shore, which we immediately recognised to be of the same kind as those to which we had so long been accustomed in Winter Harbour, and which are occasioned by the rise and fall of the tide. We turned to the westward along the beach, and at the distance of two miles ascended a point of land in that direction, from whence we had a commanding view of the objects around us. As soon as we had gained the summit of this point, which is about eighty feet above the sea, we had an additional confirmation that it was the sea which we had now reached, the ice being thrown upon the beach under the point, and as far as we could see to the westward, in large, high, irregular masses, exactly similar to those which had so often afforded us anchorage and shelter upon the southern shores of the island. Being desirous, however, of leaving nothing uncertain respecting it, we walked out a few hundred yards upon the ice, and began with a boarding-pike and our knives, which were all the tools we had, to dig a hole in it, in order to taste the water beneath. After nearly two hours' labour, we could only get down as many feet, the ice being very hard, brittle, and transparent; more so, as we imagined, than salt-water ice usually is, which made us the more desirous to get through it. I therefore determined to return to our people, and to remove our encampment hither, for the purpose of completing the hole through the ice with all our hands, while we were obtaining the necessary observations on shore.
On our return to the tents, we dined, and rested till one o'clock on the morning of the 7th, when we set out for the point, at which we did not arrive till half past four, the snow being here so deep as to make the cart an improper, and, indeed, almost impracticable mode of conveying our baggage. It froze all day in the shade, with a fresh breeze from the north; and, though the tents were pitched under the lee of the grounded ice upon the beach, we found it extremely cold; all the pools of water were frozen hard during the night, and, some of our canteens burst from the same cause. The people were allowed to rest after their supper till four P.M., and were then set to work upon the ice and in building a monument on the top of the Point.
We dined at midnight; and at half past one A.M. on the 8th struck the tents, and drew the cart to the higher part of the Point, where we occupied two hours in completing our monument, which is of a conical form, twelve feet broad at the base, and as many in height. Within it were deposited a tin cylinder, containing an account of the party who had left it, and one or two silver and copper English coins. This monument may be seen at several miles' distance from the sea or land side; and, as great pains were taken by Mr. Fisher in constructing it, it may probably last for a long period of years.
Having now satisfactorily determined the extent of Melville Island to the northward upon this meridian, which corresponds very nearly with that of Winter Harbour, and finished all the requisite observations, I proposed pursuing our journey towards the Blue Hills, which were still in sight at the distance of several leagues to the westward; and, having advanced to the southwest as long as circumstances should appear to make it interesting or practicable, to return by a circuitous route to the ships. We travelled in a W.½S. direction, in order to keep on a ridge along the coast, which afforded the only tolerable walking, the snow being very deep on the lower parts of the land. We halted at half past seven A.M., on a fine sandy ground, which gave us the softest, as well as the driest bed which we had yet experienced on our journey, and which was situated close to a little hillock of earth and moss, so full of the burrows of hares as to resemble a warren. We tried to smoke them out by burning port-fire, but none appeared; and it is remarkable, that though we constantly met with the dung of these animals, especially in this place, where it occurred very abundantly, we never saw one of them during the journey. As soon as we had halted, we found that Mr. Reid's knapsack had dropped off the cart; he had therefore to go back to look for it, and did not return till eleven o'clock, being so much affected by snow-blindness as to be scarcely able to see his way to the tents. This circumstance was, sufficient to show the advantage, and even the necessity, of travelling entirely by night under these circumstances, the intense glare of light from the snow during the day inevitably producing this painful irritation in the eyes.
At a quarter past five P.M. we resumed our journey to the southwest, and soon after crossed a snowy plain a mile and a quarter in breadth, extending to the sea to the north, and as far as the eye could reach to the south. Having travelled S.W.b.W. seven miles, we halted, at half an hour before midnight, at the distance of three or four miles from the sea, the weather being very clear and fine, with a moderate breeze from the S.S.W.
Having rested after our dinner till half past two A.M., we set out again to the southwest, making, however, a very crooked course on account of the irregularity of the ground. In the first quarter of a mile we passed the first running stream which we had seen this season, and this was but a small one, from six to twelve inches deep. The ground, as well as the pools of water, was frozen hard during the last night, but thawed during the day, which made travelling worse and worse, as the sun acquired power. We passed a few horns of deer, killed three ptarmigans, and saw a pair of ducks. The plumage of the cock grouse was still quite white, except near the tip of the tail, where the feathers were of a fine glossy black; but in every hen which we had lately killed, a very perceptible alteration was apparent, even from day to day, and their plumage had now nearly assumed that speckled colour which, from its resemblance to that of the ground, is so admirably adapted to preserve them from being seen at the season of their incubation. We found it difficult, in general, to get near the hens, which were very wild; but the male birds were at all times stupidly tame.
At half past two A.M. on the 10th we struck the tents, and proceeded to the S.W., the wind having got round to the S.E., with continued snow. At the distance of two miles we entered upon a level plain three miles wide, which, with the exception of a patch here and there, was entirely covered with snow. The uncovered parts of this plain were so wet as to be almost impassable for the cart; and we were now as desirous of keeping on the snow as, at the beginning of our journey from Winter Harbour, we had been anxious to avoid it.
The weather continued hazy, with snow occasionally, but our clothes dried in the sun towards noon; soon after which, however, the snow became more thick and constant, so that we could scarcely see a hundred yards around the tents. We waited for some time in hope of the weather clearing, and then, at a quarter past five, continued our journey; as we were under the necessity, however, of directing our course entirely by compass, which is here a very uncertain and deceitful guide, we made but a slow and tedious progress. The wind freshened up to a gale from the S.E. soon after we had set out, which made it impossible for us any longer to pursue our journey, and we began to look out for a spot on which the tents could be pitched, so as to afford us a dry flooring, if not shelter, during the gale. Having crossed three ravines within a mile and a quarter, we at length came to a very deep one, which was nearly perpendicular on each side, with the snow overhanging in some parts, so as to make it dangerous to go near the edge of the bank. We were at length fortunate in finding a narrow, sloping ridge of snow, leading down to the bottom of the ravine; and having descended this with some difficulty, we found such good shelter as to determine me to halt here for the night, which now became more and more inclement.
The wind gradually veered to the N.N.W. in the morning, and the weather having cleared up about half past four, we struck the tents and set off to the southward. The south bank of the ravine being nearly as steep, and much higher than the other, it was with considerable labour and difficulty that we were able to get the cart up it, in which, however, we succeeded by six o'clock, when we found that we were travelling on much higher ground than before, overlooking that which we had left the preceding evening. Having proceeded four miles over a level country, with much snow upon it, we suddenly and unexpectedly came in sight of the sea or a lake, at the distance of two or three miles before us, just appearing between two high and steep hills, which terminated a deep and broad ravine. We hastened forward to the point of the nearest hill, from whence the prospect was extremely grand and picturesque. We were looking down nearly perpendicular from a height of eight or nine hundred feet, on an extensive plain of ice, of which, to the westward, we could perceive no termination for a distance of five or six leagues, the prospect to the eastward being obstructed by other hills. A thick mist or vapour was at times carried rapidly along by the wind over this ice, to which it was entirely confined, occasionally covering the top of the island with a dense cloud. The impression made upon our minds at the time was, that it was a frozen lake on which we were now looking; but this conjecture, as it afterward appeared, proved erroneous. The ravine at which we had arrived discharges its waters into a snug cove two or three miles deep, at the head of which we now proposed resting, if a place could be found at which our descent into the ravine could be effected. The sides of the ravine, which were very steep, were covered with innumerable blocks, of sandstone of every size and shape, over which alone any road could be found to the cove below. It was necessary, therefore, to make the attempt, but it was impossible for the best built carriage to travel long on such a road; and when we had half descended the bank, which led into the ravine on its north side, the axle-tree broke short in the middle. The baggage was therefore taken off and carried down to the bottom, where the tents were pitched at eleven A.M., the wheels being left where the cart broke down, as sound as at first.
The latitude observed here was 75° 12' 50", the longitude, by chronometer, 111° 50' 05", and the variation of the magnetic needle 125° 12' 22" easterly. The wind being fresh from the W.N.W., and the weather being cold and raw, we built a wall to the windward of the tents, as a substitute for the usual shelter afforded by the cart; after supper, the people, being a good deal fatigued, were allowed to rest till near midnight, and then employed in arranging the baggage so as to carry it on our shoulders for the rest of the journey. The wood which composed the light framework of the cart being now disposable as fuel, we were glad to make use of it in cooking a few ptarmigan, which afforded us another sumptuous meal. It is not perhaps, easy for those who have never experienced it, to imagine how great a luxury anything warm in this way becomes, after living entirely upon cold provisions for some time in this rigid climate. This change was occasionally the more pleasant to us, from the circumstance of the preserved meats, on which we principally lived, being generally at this time hard frozen when taken out of the canisters.
Having finished our arrangements with respect to the baggage, which made it necessary that each of the men should carry between sixty and seventy pounds, and the officers from forty to fifty, we struck the tents at half past two on the morning of the 12th, and proceeded along the eastern shore of the cove, towards a point which forms the entrance on that side.
We arrived at the point at five o'clock, and as we could now perceive that the lake or gulf extended a considerable distance to the eastward as well as to the westward, and that it would require a long time to go round in the former direction, I determined to cross it on the ice; and as the distance to the opposite shore seemed too great for one journey, the snow being soft upon the ice, first to visit the island, and, having rested there, to proceed to the southward. Having walked five miles in a S.S.W. direction, we landed at seven A.M., near the southeast part of the island. The wind was fresh from the westward, and the tents were pitched near the beach, under the lee of the high part of the island.
We rested till six P.M., and then set off across the ice for a point to the E.S.E. The snow had now become so soft after the heat of the day, that, loaded as we were, we often sunk nearly up to the knees, which made travelling very laborious, and we were, therefore, not sorry to get on shore by half past eight, having walked, by our account, three miles and a half.
The spot on which we encamped appeared so favourable for obtaining specimens of the different animals which frequent this island, that I determined to remain here one day for the purpose of sporting and examining its natural productions.
The sportsmen went out early in the morning, and soon after met with a musk-ox feeding on a spot of luxuriant pasture-ground, covered with the dung of these animals as well as of deer. They fired at him from a considerable distance without wounding him, and he set off at a very quick pace over the hills. The musk-ox has the appearance of a very ill-proportioned little animal, its hair being so long as to make its feet appear only two or three inches in length; they seem, indeed, to be treading upon it at every step, and the individual in question actually did so in some instances, as the hair was found in several of the foot-tracks. When disturbed and hunted, they frequently tore up the ground with their horns, and turned round occasionally to look at their pursuers, but they never attempted to attack any of them. Our gentlemen also met with a herd of twelve deer, three only of which had horns, and they were much the largest of the herd, and constantly drove the others away when they attempted to stop. The birds seen by our people were many brent-geese and ptarmigans, several golden plovers, one or two "boatswains," and abundance of snow-buntings. One or two mice were caught; like several others we had seen, these were turning brown about the belly and head, and the back was of a dark gray colour. In every part of the island over which we travelled, the holes and tracks of these little animals were occasionally seen; one of them, which Sergeant Martin ran after, finding no hole near and that he could not escape, set himself against a stone, as if endeavouring to defend himself, and bit the sergeant's finger when he took hold of him.
On a point of land at the distance of three quarters of a mile to the W.b.S. of the tents, and within a hundred yards of the sea, the remains of six Esquimaux huts were discovered; they consisted of rude circles, about six feet in diameter, constructed irregularly of stones of all sizes and shapes, and raised to the height of two feet from the ground: they were paved with large slabs of white schistose sandstone, which is here abundant; the moss had spread over this floor, and appeared to be the growth of three or four years. In each of the huts, on one side, was a small separate compartment forming a recess, projecting outward, which had probably been their store-room; and at a few feet from one of the huts was a smaller circle of stones, which had composed the fireplace, the mark of fire being still perceptible upon them.
The day was fine and clear, with a moderate wind from the westward till four P.M., when it died away, and was shortly after succeeded by a breeze from the southward, with a fall of snow. We now travelled due south, with the intention of getting sight of the Table Hills, and returning by that route to the ships, as there appeared to be nothing more within our reach of sufficient interest to detain us any longer from them. At eight P.M., finding that the people's clothes were becoming wet through by the sleet which fell, we halted and pitched the tents.
Early on the morning of the 14th the wind veered to the westward, and the weather became gradually more clear; we therefore continued our journey to the southward, and came in sight of the Table Hills bearing S.E. of us, and at eight A.M. pitched the tents on some dry ground on the bank of a ravine. We moved on towards the Table Hills at five P.M., and crossed several ravines without much water in them, running generally to the northeastward. We halted between the Table Hills at ten o'clock, having travelled eight miles over very swampy ground, and with the snow up to our knees in some of the hollows.
As soon as the observations were completed, we set off for Winter Harbour, and having passed over much rich and wet ground, abounding with sorrel, which now began to put forth its leaves with more vigour, arrived on board at seven P.M., having been met, and welcomed most heartily, by almost every officer and man belonging to the ships; and it was no small satisfaction to me to hear it remarked, that the whole of our travelling party appeared in more robust health than when we left them.