a skilful rider, she
obeyed the thought of her captain.

The weather grew warmer. At six o'clock in the morning the thermometer
stood at 26 degrees, at six in the evening at 29 degrees, and at
midnight at 25 degrees; the wind was light from the southeast.

Thursday, at about three o'clock in the morning, the _Forward_ arrived
in sight of Possession Bay, on the American shore, at the entrance of
Lancaster Sound; soon Cape Burney came into sight. A few Esquimaux
came out to the ship; but Hatteras could not stop to speak with them.

[Illustration]

The peaks of Byam Martin, which rise above Cape Liverpool, were passed
on the left, and they soon disappeared in the evening mist; this hid
from them Cape Hay, which has a very slight elevation, and so is
frequently confounded with ice about the shore, a circumstance which
very often renders the determination of the coast-line in polar
regions very difficult.

Puffins, ducks, and white gulls appeared in great numbers. By
observation the latitude was 74 degrees 1 minute, and the longitude,
according to the chronometer, 77 degrees 15 minutes.

The two mountains, Catherine and Elizabeth, raised their snowy heads
above the clouds.

At ten o'clock on Friday Cape Warrender was passed on the right side
of the sound, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a bay which has never
been fully explored by navigators, who are always hastening westward.
The sea ran rather high, and the waves often broke over the bows,
covering the deck with small fragments of ice. The land on the north
coast presented a strange appearance with its high, flat table-lands
sparkling beneath the sun's rays.

Hatteras would have liked to skirt these northern lands, in order to
reach the sooner Beechey Island and the entrance of Wellington
Channel; but, much to his chagrin, the bank-ice obliged him to take
only the passes to the south.

Hence, on the 26th of May, in the midst of a fog and a snow-storm, the
_Forward_ found herself off Cape York; a lofty, steep mountain was
soon recognized; the weather got a little clearer, and at midday the
sun appeared long enough to permit an observation to be taken:
latitude 74 degrees 4 minutes, and longitude 84 degrees 23 minutes.
The _Forward_ was at the end of Lancaster Sound.

[Illustration]

Hatteras showed the doctor on the chart the route he had taken and
that which he was to follow. At that time the position of the brig was
interesting.

"I should have liked to