Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/323

 *pect was not encouraging. In every direction, except immediately down the coast toward Cape Hatherton, the ice was very rough, being jammed against the shore and piled up over the sea in great ridges, which looked rather unpromising for sledges.

The view decided my course of action. Cairn Point would be my starting-place if I crossed the Sound, and a most convenient position for a depot of supplies in the event of being obliged to hold on up the Greenland coast. Accordingly, I took from the sledges all of the provisions except what was necessary for a six days' consumption, and discovering a suitable cleft in a rock, deposited it therein, covering it over with heavy stones, to protect it from the bears, intending to proceed up the coast for a general inspection of the condition of the ice on the Sound.

These various operations consumed the day; so we fed the dogs and dug into another snow-bank, and got through another night after the fashion of Arctic travelers, which is not much of a fashion to boast of. We slept and did not freeze, and more than this we did not expect.

The next day's journey was made with light sledges, but it was much more tedious than the two days preceding; for the track was rough, and during the greater part of the time it was as much as the dogs could do to get through the hummocked ice with nothing on the sledge but our little food and sleeping gear. As for riding, that was entirely out of the question. After nine hours of this sort of work, during which we made, lightened as we were, not over twenty miles, we were well satisfied to draw up to the first convenient snow-bank for another nightly burrow.

Being naturally inclined to innovation, I had busied