A TOUR OF THE ISLAND, 1 85 followed the lengthened curve of the coast between Capes Bathurst and Esquimaux. It was eight o'clock in the morning ; the oblique rays of the sun struck upon the beach, and touched it with many a brilliant tint, the angry billows of the sea were sinking to rest, and the birds, ptarmigans, guillemots, puffins, and petrels, driven away by the storm, were returning by thousands. Troops of ducks were hastening back to Lake Barnett, flying close, although they knew it not, to Mrs Joliflfe's saucepan. Polar hares, martens, musk-rats, and ermines rose before the travellers and fled at their approach, but not with any great appearance of haste or terror. The animals evidently felt drawn towards their old enemies by a common danger. " They know well enough that they are hemmed in by the sea and cannot quit the island," observed Hobson. " They are all in the habit of seeking warmer climates in the south in the winter, are they not ? " inquired Mrs Barnett. " Yes, madam, but unless they are presently able to cross the ice- field, they will have to remain prisoners like ourselves, and I am afraid the greater number will die of cold or hunger. " I hope they will be good, enough to supply us with food for a long time," observed the Sergeant, " and I think it is very fortunate that they had not the sense to run away before the rupture of the isthmus." " The birds will, however, leave us ? " added Mrs Barnett.
- Oh yes, madam, everything with wings will go, they can traverse
long distances without fatigue, and, more fortunate than ourselves, they will regain terra Jlrma.'^ " Could we not use them as messengers ? *' asked Mrs Barnett. "A good idea, madam, a capital idea," said Hobson. "We might easily catch some hundreds of these birds, and tie a paper round their necks with our exact situation written upon it. John Ross in 1848 tried similar means to acquaint the survivors of the Franklin expedition with the presence of his ships, the Enterprise and the Investigator in the Polar seas. He caught some hundreds of white foxes in traps, rivetted a copper collar round the neck of each with all the necessary information engraved upon it, and then set them free in every direction." " Perhaps some of the messengers may have fallen into the hands of the shipwrecked wanderers."
