tterflies and other insects displaying the most gaudy tints; so that
the seamen might have fancied themselves in some happier clime, had not
the mighty piles of ice in the frozen strait told a different tale.

While the ships were at anchor, hunting parties were sent out, and the
game laws of the preceding year were strictly enforced, by which every
beast and bird was to be given up for the general good, the capturer
only retaining the head and legs. The head, however, was sometimes
greatly extended, so as to include several joints of the back-bone. At
length the explorers found themselves among a complete labyrinth of
islands, amidst which strong currents set in various directions, while
fogs and drift ice made navigation perilous in the extreme. Successive
masses assailed the _Fury_. At one time her anchor was dragged along
with a grinding noise, two flukes being broken off. She was afterwards
carried forward by a violent stream amid thick mist, while it was found
impossible to steer her in any direction.

At length the ships emerged into the open sea, but a strong northerly
gale compelled them to run before it, when, on the 6th of August, they
found themselves close to the spot where they had been on the 3rd of
September. Still Captain Parry persevered, examining every opening, in
the hopes that each might prove a passage into the polar ocean.

Lyon and Hoppner Inlets were surveyed. When near the shore, a number of
Esquimaux came off to obtain some iron tools. The behaviour of one of
the fair sex created considerable surprise. She had sold one boot, but
obstinately retained the other. At length the suspicions of the seamen
being aroused, she was seized and the buskin pulled off, when it proved
to be a receptacle of stolen treasure. Besides other articles, it
contained a pewter plate and a couple of spoons.

The end of September was now approaching. The summer was far from
genial, and now, at any moment, the icy hand of winter might grasp the
ships. Pancake ice began to form on the surface of the ocean. As the
ships rolled from side to side, the ice clung to them in vast masses,
and the various pieces which were tossing in the sea around became
cemented into one great field, which threatened every moment to bear
down upon them and dash them to pieces.

As it was important, without delay, to secure the ships for the winter,
a small island lying off the northern point of the entrance into Lyon
Inlet wa