Mr. Griffin, who performed a journey of research along this coast
toward the north, found at intervals, almost to Cape Bowden, traces
of a passing party. A corked bottle, quite empty, was among these.
Reaching a point beyond Cape Bowden, he discovered the indentation or
bay which now bears his name, and on whose opposite shores the coast
was again seen.
It is clear to my own mind that a systematic reconnoissance was
undertaken by Franklin of the upper waters of the Wellington, and that
it had for its object an exploration in that direction as soon as the
ice would permit.
There were some features about this deserted homestead inexpressibly
touching. The frozen trough of an old water channel had served as the
wash-house stream for the crews of the lost squadron. The tubs, such
as Jack makes by sawing in half the beef barrels, although no longer
fed by the melted snows, remained as the washers had left them five
years ago. The little garden, too: I did not see it; but Lieutenant
Osborn describes it as still showing the mosses and anemones that
were transplanted by its farmers. A garden implies a purpose either to
remain or to return: he who makes it is looking to the future. The same
officer found a pair of cashmere gloves, carefully "laid out to dry,
with two small stones upon the palms to keep them from blowing away."
It would be wrong to measure the value of these gloves by the price
they could be bought in Bond Street or Broadway. The Arctic traveler
they belonged to intended to come back for them, and did not probably
forget them in his hurry.
The facts I have mentioned, almost all of them, have been so ably
analyzed already, that I might be excused from venturing any deductions
of my own. But it was impossible to review the circumstances as we
stood upon the ground without forming an opinion; and such as mine was,
it is perhaps best that I should express it here.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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