ear us
was so steep and rugged that no landing of the cargoes could be effected
and we were preserved only by some men jumping on the rocks and thrusting
the ice off with poles. There was no alternative but to continue along
this dreary shore seeking a channel between the different masses of ice
which had accumulated at the various points. In this operation both the
canoes were in imminent danger of being crushed by the ice which was now
tossed about by the waves that the gale had excited. We effected a
passage however and, keeping close to the shore, landed at the entrance
of Detention Harbour at nine P.M., having come twenty-eight miles. An old
Esquimaux encampment was traced on this spot, and an ice chisel, a copper
knife, and a small iron knife were found under the turf. I named this
cape after Mr. Barrow of the Admiralty to whose exertions are mainly
owing the discoveries recently made in Arctic geography. An opening on
its eastern side received the appellation of Inman Harbour after my
friend the Professor at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, and to a
group of islands to seaward of it we gave the name of Jameson in honour
of the distinguished Professor of Mineralogy at Edinburgh.

We had much wind and rain during the night and by the morning of the 26th
a great deal of ice had drifted into the inlet. We embarked at four and
attempted to force a passage, when the first canoe got enclosed and
remained for some time in a very perilous situation: the pieces of ice,
crowded together by the action of the current and wind, pressing strongly
against its feeble sides. A partial opening however occurring we landed
without having sustained any serious injury. Two men were then sent round
the bay and it was ascertained that, instead of having entered a narrow
passage between an island and the main, we were at the mouth of a harbour
having an island at its entrance, and that it was necessary to return by
the way we came and get round a point to the northward. This was however
impracticable, the channel being blocked up by drift ice, and we had no
prospect of release except by a change of wind. This detention was
extremely vexatious as we were losing a fair wind and expending our
provision. In the afternoon the weather cleared up and several men went
hunting but were unsuccessful. During the day the ice floated backwards
and forwards in the harbour, moved by currents not regular enough to
deserve the name of tide, and which a