“Most carefully was every stone removed, every atom of moss or earth scrutinized; the stones at the bottom also taken up; but without finding a trace of any record, or of the structure having been used by any human being. It was filled by drift snow, but did not in any respect bear the appearance of having been built more than a season. This was named ‘Mount Discovery.’” A little later he writes:— “Leaving our crew, pretty well fatigued, to pitch the tent and prepare the customary pemmican meal, I ascended the mountain above us, and discovered that we really were not far from our old position of last year, on Cape Hogarth, and had Cape Majendie and Hamilton Island to the west, about twenty miles. “My surprise, however, was checked suddenly by two structures rather in European form, and apparently graves; each was similarly constructed; and, like the dome, of large selected slabs, having at each end three separate stones, laid as we should place head and foot stones. So thoroughly satisfied was I that there was no delusion, I desisted from disturbing a stone until it should be formally done by the party assembled. “The evening following—for where the sun is so oppressive to the eyes by day we travel by night—we ascended the hill, and removed the stones. Not a trace of human beings!” [Sidenote: _DESERTION OF THE SHIPS_] After a second winter (1853-1854) spent at the southern horn of Baring Bay, Sir Edward Belcher turned his entire exertions to getting his crews safely back to England. The _Assistance_ and _Pioneer_ were released from their winter quarters August 6, 1854, and proceeded slowly down the channel. The ice had broken up in Barrow Strait, and by August 22 the floe in Wellington Channel was open for fifteen miles north of the strait. There was only a belt some twenty miles in extent, and this much cracked, remaining between the ships and the water communicating with the Atlantic Ocean. In spite of these favourable conditions, Sir Edward Belcher and his crews deserted the _Assistance_ and _Pioneer_ on August 26, 1854, and made their way to the place of rendezvous at Beechey Island. The _North Star_ accordingly set sail with all the officers and men of the _Assistance_, _Pioneer_, _Resolute_, _Intrepid_, and _Investigator_, but meeting the _Phœnix_ and _Talbot_, under Captain Inglefield (who had again returned to the search), a distribution of the crews was made among the three vessels, and on the 28th of September, 1854, all were safely landed in England.