sound fly to the now distant shore, returning its echoes faintly as each cadence died away. The song effectually roused me; it was a cheerful strain, albeit not very refined; and the bold chorus might have been heard afar off for miles. Lustily was it vociferated by each man, until the boat rounding to, ended the strain as we came alongside our ship.

CHAP. XXII.

PLAN OF FUTURE PROCEEDINGS FOR THE VESSEL. OBSERVE A BRIGANTINE ENTERING THE INLET. THE PAY HER

AMERICAN DISCOVERY SHIP "ADVANCE.".

A VISIT. NOBLE GENEROSITY OF HENRY GRINNELL, ESQ., OF NEW YORK. - LIEUT. DE HAVEN, COMMANDER

OF THE EXPEDITION. - DR. KANE. BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THEIR VOYAGE. THEIR BOLD AND DARING CHARACTER EVINCED, WHILE PASSING THROUGH HEAVY ICE. SIZE, STRENGTH, AND EQUIPMENT OF THE ADVANCE."

THE PRINCE ALBERT FAIRLY TESTED, AND PROVED EQUAL TO THE TRIAL.

I GAVE in my report to the captain, and then gladly went to my cabin for the purposes of ablution and a change of dress. I might have been tempted to lie down, and should have done so, but there was work yet to do. The men who had been with me in the boat, were sent below to rest, but matters of more consequence than sleep had to be discussed abaft.

I was informed by Captain Forsyth, that, after we had left him on the previous evening, the current had set him in a calm so far down towards his morning's position, that it prevented his follow

U

ing me close up: he had, however, burnt blue-lights, sent up sky-rockets, and fired several signal-guns, as well for the shore as for us, none of which we had heard or seen. The whole of the present morning he had been becalmed in a fog, and only got a light breeze to help him about noon. I mentioned to him the state of the harbour exactly as I had left it on coming out; but he told me he had fully made up his mind what to do, and requested me to give him a written opinion upon the subject. I again suggested the advisability of our examining Capes Walker, Hotham, and Riley, as there we might get some information to take home when we returned; but the first difficulty that presented itself was, our going upon ground occupied by Her Majesty's ships. In considering this question, and urging it, I had no wish to trench upon their province, nor to take away from them any merit they might be entitled to by searching particular places according to their instructions. On the contrary, had I any one feeling more than another, in reference to the national ships of my own beloved country, it was, that they might be successful, that they might win the glory and the honour, so that some good return might thus be made to the nation for its noble generosity in sending forth these expeditions. I would rather that the government ships found those whom we were all so

PLAN OF FUTURE PROCEEDINGS.

291

anxious to have found, providing they could do it before others. I wished all and every vessel, American or English, success; for I had no other desire nor rivalry than that some of us might very speedily obtain good tidings. And, as for encroaching upon the peculiar ground of other ships, it was not, I thought, worth a moment's consideration. I then asked permission to have the gutta-percha boat, whose admirable qualities in the ice, and on such dangerous services, I had so fully and so satisfactorily proved, and to take her, equipped, manned, and provisioned as I might wish, for a week or fortnight, away to search in those quarters, or to try and fall in with those ships that had searched. Captain Forsyth, however, deeming it too great a hazard for any boat to encounter, decided upon visiting Cape Riley in the ship.

At Captain Forsyth's request, I promised to write him a letter which should embrace my view of the question; but as I felt myself unequal to the task at that moment, from excessive fatigue, I stated what would be the substance of it, and retired to my own cabin.* But sleep, as yet, I soon found was out of the question. On passing Leopold Harbour, the

* The opinion given in to Captain Forsyth I still maintain, being convinced we could never have done any good or real service by remaining there during the winter. My reasons for such a conviction erroneous, perhaps are private, and need not

be mentioned.

entrance was sufficiently clear for the hour, but a heavy stream of ice, reaching, in a half circle, from Cape Clarence and the island to nearly midway across Prince Regent's Inlet, proved that it would not long be as we now saw it. Large pieces of ice were floating about, and setting rapidly up the inlet. We had to stand away for some distance, to round the edge of this stream; and as we approached the far end, we perceived that a vessel, which we had some time before seen, was apparently standing right in towards us. At first, we took her to be Sir John Ross's schooner, the "Felix," but a few moments more settled the point, by her size and rig being different, and her colours being displayed, which proved her to be one of the "Americans!" All idea of sleep was now instantly banished from me. The American vessels already up here, when we had fancied them still in Melville Bay, not far from where we had left them on the 6th instant! Much as I knew of the enterprising and daring spirit of our transatlantic brethren, I could not help being astonished. They must have had either some extraordinary luck, or else the ice had suddenly and most effectually broken up to admit of their exit, unaided by steam or other help, in so short a time. I felt, however, a pleasure in thus finding my repeated observations concerning them so thoroughly verified ;