upon a plan of my dear friend Peter Halkett, to be extremely
convenient; in it I floated down the cracks of water, landed on
floe-pieces, crossed them dragging my boat, and again launched into
water in search of my feathered friends. At the Whale-Fish Islands,
much to the delight of my Esquimaux friends, I had paddled about in the
inflated boat, and its portability seemed fully to be appreciated by
them, though they found fault with the want of speed, in which it fell
far short of their own fairy craft.

The separation of the squadron, occasioned by either mistake or
accident, detained us for a few days in the beginning of August, in
order that junction might again take place. Penny, by dint of hard
tracking and heaving, gained seven miles upon us. For several days a
schooner, a ketch, and a single-masted craft, had been seen far to the
southward; they were now rapidly closing, and we made them out to be
the "Felix," Sir J. Ross, with his boat towing astern, and the "Prince
Albert," belonging to Lady Franklin, in charge of Commander Forsyth.

_August 5th._--Plenty of water. The "Assistance" received orders to
proceed (when her consort the "Intrepid" joined her) to the north shore
of Lancaster Sound, examine it and Wellington Channel, and having
assured themselves that Franklin had not gone up by that route to the
N.W., to meet us between Cape Hotham and Cape Walker. I regretted that
the shore upon which the first traces would undoubtedly be found,
should have fallen to another's share: however, as there seemed a
prospect of separation, and by doing so, progress, I was too rejoiced
to give it a second thought; and that the "Assistance" would do her
work well, was apparent to all who witnessed the zeal and skill
displayed by her people in the most ordinary duty.

Taking in our ice-anchors, and getting hold of the "Resolute," I bid my
friends of the "Assistance" good-bye, thinking that advance was now
likely: this hope soon failed me, for again we made fast, and again we
all waited for one another.

Amongst many notes of the superiority of steam over manual labour in
the ice, I will extract two made to-day.

The "Assistance" was towed by the "Intrepid" in fifteen minutes, a
distance which it took the "Resolute," followed by the "Pioneer," from
10 A.M. to 3 P.M. to track and warp.

The "Intrepid" steamed to a berg in ten minutes, and got past it. The
rest of the squadron, by manual labour, succeeded in accomplishin