always do what it
ought. Look, that ice-bank seems impenetrable. Never mind, we will
try to reach Griffith Island, sail round Cornwallis Island, and get
into Queen's Channel without going by Wellington Channel.
Nevertheless I positively desire to touch at Beechey Island in order
to renew my coal provision."

"What do you mean?" asked the astonished doctor.

"I mean that, according to orders from the Admiralty, large provisions
have been deposited on that island in order to provide for future
expeditions, and although Captain McClintock took some in 1859, I
assure you that there will be some left for us."

"By-the-bye," said the doctor, "these parts have been explored for
the last fifteen years, and since the day when the proof of the loss
of Franklin was acquired, the Admiralty has always kept five or six
cruisers in these seas. If I am not mistaken, Griffith Island, which
I see there on the map, almost in the middle of the cross-roads, has
become a general meeting-place for navigators."

"It is so, doctor; and Franklin's unfortunate expedition resulted
in making known these distant countries to us."

"That is true, captain, for since 1845 expeditions have been very
numerous. It was not until 1848 that we began to be uneasy about the
disappearance of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, Franklin's two
vessels. It was then that we saw the admiral's old friend, Dr.
Richardson, at the age of seventy, go to Canada, and ascend Coppermine
River as far as the Polar Sea; and James Ross, commanding the
_Enterprise_ and _Investigation_, set out from Uppernawik in 1848
and arrived at Cape York, where we now are. Every day he threw a tub
containing papers into the sea, for the purpose of making known his
whereabouts. During the mists he caused the cannon to be fired, and
had sky-rockets sent up at night along with Bengal lights, and kept
under sail continually. He wintered in Port Leopold from 1848 to 1849,
where he took possession of a great number of white foxes, and caused
brass collars, upon which was engraved the indication of the
whereabouts of ships and the store depots, to be riveted on their
necks. Afterwards they were dispersed in all directions; in the
following spring he began to search the coasts of North Somerset on
sledges in the midst of dangers and privations from which almost all
his men fell ill or lame. He built up cairns in which he inclosed
brass cylinders with the necessary memoranda for rallying the lost
e