The appreciation of the grand in this region was frequently marred by fatigue and hunger, and so it was on the present occasion, Lockwood being glad enough when, at half-past one, they reached the head of Beatrix Bay. In the valley which they now entered, they concluded to spend another day. This one, like nearly all the valleys in this region, was simply a cañon, a narrow, ditch-like formation, walled in by steep, high cliffs. It was occupied as usual by a very insignificant stream, the successor of some mighty mass of water or ice which had originally hollowed out the great gorge. This, and the head of Ella Bay, were the farthest reached by Lieutenant Archer, R. N., who explored the fiord named for him to find out whether it was simply a _fiord_, or a strait or channel, as the Polaris people had asserted it to be. His Mount Neville, thirty-eight hundred feet high, Lockwood looked for in vain as a regular head to the valley, and finally fixed it as one of the cliffs which, a little way back, rose slightly higher, to a dome. Archer was a day making the ascent. Lockwood and Brainard walked about four miles up the valley, and saw its termination nearly six miles beyond, when they retraced their course to camp, greatly disappointed in seeing no game, except two or three ptarmigans. The valley seemed practicable for the sledge, and so, after considering one or two narrow and rocky gorges which came in from the west, they determined to follow it to its head (north-northwest), and then seek farther a route in the direction desired, which was west or southwest. As they proceeded, the weather became bright and clear, and the mercury was only 2° below zero. They passed up the valley, leaving in _cache_ for return two days’ rations. The dogs were in excellent condition, and, in spite of stones, went along very well. There was some ice in the stream-bed, and of snow quite an abundance. Above the farthest reached the day before, a small lake was discovered—a level expanse of snow with ice beneath. The lower part of the valley had two distinct elevations, the stream-bed, a very easy grade, forming one, while along the stream extended broken terraces, termed shoulders, which from the cliffs projected out on either side, sometimes beyond the middle of the valley, which was from one to three miles wide. The breadth decreased as they ascended, and after several miles it was but a few hundred yards wide. At this point, they suddenly came to a place where the valley seemed to run out, the whole breadth being a mass of rocks. Good traveling was seen beyond, however, and, after working an hour doubling up (taking half-load at a time), they got over, and shortly afterward the real end of the valley was reached. They then turned short off to the north, and, going up a steep, rocky ravine, about midnight pitched the tent for further survey of the scene on the morrow.