aving been there before us, either
in shooting excursions or other pursuits, and usually in the shape of a
preserved-meat tin, a piece of rope, or a strip of canvas or rag.

[Headnote: _BEECHEY ISLAND._]

On the eastern extreme of Beechey Island, and under a beetling cliff
which formed the entrance to the bay, a very neatly-paved piece of
ground denoted a tent-place; much pains had been bestowed upon it, and
a pigmy terrace had been formed around their abode, the margin of which
was decorated with moss and poppy plants: in an adjacent gully a
shooting-gallery had been established, as appeared by the stones placed
at proper distances, and a large tin marked "Soup and Bouilli," which,
perforated with balls, had served for a target. I carefully scanned the
flat slabs of slaty limestone, of which the over-hanging cliffs were
formed, in hopes of seeing some name, or date, scratched upon the
surface; some clue, mayhap, to the information we so dearly longed
for,--the route taken by Franklin on sailing hence, whether to Cape
Walker or up Wellington Channel. But, no; the silent cliff bore no
mark; by some fatality, the proverbial love for marking their names, or
telling their tales, on every object, which I have ever found in
seamen, was here an exception, and I turned to my vessel, after three
unprofitable walks on Beechey Island, with the sad conviction on my
mind, that, instead of being able to concentrate the wonderful
resources we had now at hand about Beechey Island in one line of
search, we should be obliged to take up the three routes which it was
probable Franklin might have taken in 1846; viz., S.W. by Cape Walker,
N.W. by Wellington Channel, or W. by Melville Island,--a division of
force tending to weaken the chance of reaching Franklin as quickly as
we could wish, unless circumstances were peculiarly favourable.

Vague reports of some of Captain Penny's people having seen
sledge-marks on the eastern shores of "Erebus and Terror Bay," induced
one of the officers of the "Pioneer" and myself to arrange with Captain
Penny to take a walk in that direction.

Landing on the north shore of Union Bay, at the base of the cliffs of
Cape Spencer, we were soon pointed out a deep sledge-mark, which had
cut through the edge of one of the ancient tide-marks, or terraces, and
pointed in a direct line from the cairn of meat-tins erected by
Franklin, on the northern spur of Beechey Island, to a valley which led
towards the bay bet