drawn by seamen, with an
officer to each, and provisioned for forty days, would start for
Wellington Channel, there to part into two divisions,--Capt. Stewart,
of the "Sophia," taking the one side of the Channel, whilst Capt.
Penny, with two extra dog-sledges, would direct the search in general.
Delighted with all the arrangements, and equally so with the high
spirit of chivalrous devotion apparent in every word and action of
these our gallant coadjutors in the purest of enterprises, my heart was
full as I said "Good-bye" to my hospitable friend Penny, on the 11th of
April; and a rapid drive by Mr. Petersen carried me to the "Pioneer" in
less than three hours. After a short halt, Mr. P. returned to
Assistance Harbour, doing full forty miles, within twelve hours, on his
dog-sledge.

I was astonished to find, on my return, that as yet the temperature at
our winter quarters had not been registered as being above zero;
whereas, in Assistance Harbour, Capt. Penny's quarters, the thermometer
had occasionally for the past week ranged above it, and on the day
before I left showed 11 deg. in the shade. This difference of temperature
was, doubtless, occasioned by the radiation of heat from the land, by
which they were, unlike ourselves, surrounded.

During my absence, I was told that Mr. M'Dougal, of the "Resolute," who
had been despatched as early as the 4th April to inspect the depots
formed in the autumn, had returned to the ships, and brought accounts
of a wholesale destruction of the one on Somerville Island, by bears.
Hunger and mischievousness seemed alike to have induced the brutes to
break and tear to pieces what they could not possibly eat--such as tins
of patent chocolate, some of which were fairly bitten through. This
information induced us all to take extra precautions in securing the
provisions, of which depots during the march were to be formed.

[Headnote: _SLEDGE EQUIPMENT._]

It is now time to describe the sledges and their equipment, upon the
completeness of which the lives of our travellers so entirely depended.

The sledges, constructed of tough and well-seasoned wood, had been
carefully constructed in Woolwich Dockyard. They were shod with iron,
and the cross-bars or battens which connected the two runners, and
formed the floor upon which the load was placed, were lashed in their
places by us when required for use. At the four corners of the sledges
light iron stanchions dropped into sockets, and formed