The Press.
London, England, 1855-08-25 00:00:00

AUG. 25, 1855.

standing near the sledge—M. Bellot on the top of the
hummock. They seemed to be on a very solid piece of
ice. At that time the wind was blowing very strongly from
the south-east, and it was snowing."
That moving mass of ice, thus driven northward by a
furious gale, carried away the unfortunate Belot and two
sailors with him, William Johnson and David Hook. After
vainly endeavouring to shelter themselves under the tent
with which their sledge was loaded, the three men began
to cut a house for themselves in the ice with their
knives.
We can easily picture the scene. The hum-
mock, driven by a furious gale on the sea,
loaded with heavy masses of ice—the snow
falling heavily—and the little party not know-
ing whither they might be carried, or how
soon a collision might shatter the hummock,
on which their hope of safety depended, to
atoms. It was destined that only one of their
number should perish, and he by an unlooked-
for accident
Johnson's deposition is precise. "M. Bellot," he says,
" sat for half an hour in conversation with us, talking on
the danger of our position. I told him I was not afraid,
and that the American expedition were drawn up and
down this channel by the ice. He replied, ' I know they
were ; and when the Lord protects ns, not a hair of our
head shall be touched.' I then asked M. Bellot what
time it was. He said, About a quarter pest eight a.m.'
(Thursday, the 18th), and then lashed up his hooks, and
said he would go and see how the ice was driving. He
had only been gone about four minutes when I went round
the same hummock under which we were sheltered, to
look for him, but could not see him, and on returning to
our shelter saw his stick on the opposite side of a crack,
about five fathoms wide, and the ice all breaking up. I
then called out' Mr. Bellot f' but no answer rat this time
blowing very heavy). After this I again searched round,
but could see nothing of him. I believe that when he got
from the shelter the wind blew him into the crack, and his

southwester being tied down he could not rise."
It was a sad death 'for one so young and
enthusiastic. The other men succeeded in
safely reaching the shore.
Lieutenant Bellot had all the best qualities
of his countrymen. He was chivalrous, gay,
affectionate, generous, and enterprising. His
character may be read in his journals, and in
the letters and memoranda appended to these
volumes. He was gifted with such happy
exuberance of spirit that no hardship or toil
could check it. " What is the body but the
" slave of the mind," he exclaims, in one
place; and he tried the extent of the body's
endurance sorely by the privations he volun-
tarily forced it to endure. His thoughts con-
stantly flew to his family and home, and we
recognise in his affectionate expressions one
Of the most guileless natures that ever
breathed. He appears, from the knowledge
he gained of England, to have acquired a
genuine respect for our character, and makes
some acute remarks on the vast and beneficial
inluence exercised by commerce in the
modern world. The volumes, notwithstand
ing so much has been written on Polar dis-
covery, have many points of novelty, and are
extremely engaging for their originality of
style, and for the spirit thrown over the whole
narrative by the gay disposition of the open-
hearted sailor. They form an appropriate
tribute to his memory, and will lastingly con-
nect his name with the eventful, and unhap-
pily gloomy, record of Polar adventure.