f the fixed ice beyond Point Innis.

Seven hours' hard walking left us pretty well done up by the time we
tumbled into our boat, and, thanks to the stalwart strokes of Captain
Stewart's oar, we soon reached the "Pioneer," and enjoyed our dinner
with more than the usually keen appetite of Arctic seamen.

[Headnote: _WELLINGTON CHANNEL._]

Such were the traces found in and about Franklin's winter quarters: one
good result had arisen from, their discovery,--the safe passage of
Franklin across the dangers of Baffin's Bay was no longer a question;
this was a certainty, and it only remained for us to ascertain which
route he had taken, and then to follow him.

Wellington Channel engrossed much attention; the Americans, with true
go-ahead spirit, watched the ice in it most keenly. The gallant
commander of their expedition, De Haven, had already more than once
pushed his craft up an angle of water north of Point Innis; his second,
Mr. Griffin, in the "Rescue," was hard at work obtaining angles, by
which to ascertain the fact of Wellington Channel being a channel or a
fiord, a point as yet undecided, for there was a break in the land to
the N.W. which left the question still at issue.

Captain Penny, with his vessels, got under weigh one day, and ran over
towards the "Assistance," as far as the pack would allow him, and then
despatched an officer with a boat to communicate our intelligence as
well as his own; a sudden change of weather obliged Penny to return,
and the boat's crew of the "Lady Franklin," on their way back, under
Mr. John Stuart, underwent no small risk and labour. They left the
"Assistance" to walk to their boat, which had been hauled on the ice; a
thick fog came on; the direction was with difficulty maintained; no
less than eleven bears were seen prowling around the party; the boat
was found by mere accident, and, after fourteen hours' incessant
walking and pulling, Mr. Stuart succeeded in reaching the "Lady
Franklin."

Through him we learnt that Cape Hotham and the neighbourhood of Barlow
Inlet showed no sign of having been visited by Franklin, that the pack
was close home against the land, and that the "Assistance" and
"Intrepid" had been subject to some pressure, but were all safe and
sound.

Almost every hour during our detention in Union Bay, large flights of
wild fowl, principally geese and eider ducks, flew past us, as if they
had come down Wellington Channel, and were making away to the
southwar