The story of the author's travel across the Ungava peninsula, prospecting, and trying to meet up with Captain Grant to get a homeward passage. Missing the ship, he goes by sledge across the peninsula, and back by canoe, finally makes more connections and discovers a strange situation aboard -- the Captain going mad and the ship in danger of the ice -- but they pull through and the truth of the Captain's mental weakening comes out. There are dangers, and adventures and talks with the natives, and plenty of the feel of the North country, the Honorable Hudson Bay's Company and its men, and the dependence of the trading posts on the boat from England. It's good reading