The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-12 00:00:00

The crews then commenced building a wall of
snow seven feet high from one ship to the other, to
facilitate communication, and the next thing was the
erecting of an observatory for each ship for magnetic
observations. They were composed entirely of snow,
with plates of ice for the windows. They were six
feet high inside, and built of snow bricks one foot thick
and two feet long, cut out with a cutlass and well
squared and trimmed, these little houses displaying
tasteful, varied, and in some instances fantastic forms
of architecture. The wall of communication required
great attention, from the accumulation of snow. The
sun was not seen from the 9th of November until the
9th of February from the ship, but from the top of a
hill, NE Cape Leopold, a sight was caught of him so
early as the 26th January. During the long even-
ings, from October till May, schools were formed
along the midship part of the lower decks, which
were well attended by the young men, who were in-
structed in reading,' writing, and arithmetic, on
board the Enterprise, by the clerk ; and a youngster
from Greenwich school, named Grunsell, second class
volunteer, taught the pupils navigation. Many of
the scholars made great progress in their studies
during the eir months. Ample time was allowed to
the crews of both ships to meet each other, and games
of football and other exercises relieved the monotony
which surrounded them.

During the whole of that dreary winter the only
other living animals seen were the white foxes. These
were not allowed to be shot, but as many were taken
alive as could be trapped, and about 40 were then
sent away with copper collars round their necks, upon
which was stamped the name of the ships, and the
localities of the depots of provisions, &c. As it was
well known that these foxes travel an immense dis-
tance, this measure was resorted to with the view of
making them the possible medium of acquainting the
missing parties with the means taken for their relief
and succour. The foxes were caught in a barrel
converted into a door-trap, and to show the intensity
of the cold, it may be stated that the poor little ani-
mals in endeavouring to escape, often attempted to
gnaw the iron bars, when in many cases their tongues
adhered to the iron, and were frozen off, when they
were killed from motives of humanity. The foxes
were facetiously denominated "twopenny postmen."
The thermometer at this time was about 15 below
zero ; but the Sylvester stove apparatus, which
answered admirably well, always kept the lower
leeks at a temperature of between 55 and 60 degrees.
Christmas -day and New Year's-day were kept as
seasons of fun and jollity. Double allowance of
spirits and provisions were serve I out, and every one
fared sumptuously. The health of the Queen was
drunk with devoted loyalty and enthusiasm by the
gallant little band; " absent friends," and " sweet-
hearts and wives," were not forgotten ; and the dance
and song enlivened the festivities. For a few hours
the outward world was forgotten in the joyous reali-
sation of the comforts and happiness of home.
The crews during the winter were also employed in
making tools and portable apparatus for travelling in
the spring, and some parties were employed in laying
down gravel on the ice, to facilitate the cutting of the
passage out of the ships from the harbour at the proper
season. The gravel, which was taken from the shore
on sledges, was laid so as to absorb the sun's rays,
which, acting upon the ice, predisposed it to rot and
to melt away. This work very much assisted the
arduous task of cutting a canal out of the harbour of
50 feet wide, and two miles and a half long. These
and other exercises during winter, somewhat ac-
climated the men, and inured them to sustain the
privations which they subsequently encountered in
the searching expeditions. All around Leopold
Harbour nothing was seen but snow, rocks 1,100 feet
high bounded on each side, and a narrow low ridge
inclosed the harbour northward. There were very
few icebergs seen front this point.
Sir James Ross began to send out detached parties
at the early part of the month of April. From the
Enterprise Sir James was the first to go himself, and
with Mr. Cheyne and a party of ten men, left the
ship, and proceeding with a quantity of bread, pre-
served meats, fuel, and skins, went 15 miles to the
westward. lie was accompanied by Lieutenant
Barnard and a party from the Investigator, the
provisions being carried on two sledges. They
penetrated as far as Cape Hurd. Another party
from both ships, under Lieutenant Robinson (Inves-
tigator) and Lieutenant Brown (Enterprise), and Mr.
Adams, assistant surgeon (Investigator), were dis-
patched on similar service, and proceeded about 15
miles southward. They deposited their provisions
about 15 miles north of Elwin Bay. Both parties
suffered severely from this expedition, being most of;
them blinded by the snow drifts.
It was arranged that the principal expedition
should leave the ships on the 15th May. The
morning did not give any indication of fine weather,
for the wind blew high, and the snow was a foot and
a half deep. About six o'clock, however, in the
evening the weather moderated, and the parties
started with three hearty cheers from the ships. It
was composed of Sir James Ross, Lieut. M'Clintock,
and Li seamen of the Enterprise; the first lieutenant,
Mr. M'Clure, having been left in charge of the ship.
They were absent exactly forty days. They carried
with them preserved meats, with supplies of pork,
biscuit and rum, and also their sleeping apparatus,
which consisted of tarpaulins to spread out on the
snow to prevent the heat of their bodies from thawing
it; buffalo ropes to lay upon, their blanket bags in
which thoy esconced themselves, and racoon-skin
blankets to serve as counterpanes ; they also had two
sledges, six men to each, and two tents. They
travelled to the westward, from Cape Clarence around
the coast as far as Cape Bunny, about 100 miles upon
the shore of North Somerset. Here, as we have
already stated, they found the coast, which had been
up to that time unexplored, trending to the
southward. They pursued that course about 140
miles further, at the extreme point of which they erected
a cairn, and deposited cylinders therein, with the usual
notices, dating them sth of June, 1849. They had
by this time shortened their provisions, and the men
were so knocked up that Sir James was reluctantly
compelled to return. From the extreme point they
reached they could see the coast southward for 40 miles