GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 355 



with thick ice and leading to an enormous glacier five miles wide 

 and 175 feet high, completely blocking up the valley. Everywhere 

 the ground was covered with ice and snow, with no signs of life and 

 no sound other than an occasional gurgle of running water under 

 the river ice. 



When, early in July, the valley was again visited an extraordi- 

 nary difference in conditions was observed. They might have doubted 

 the existence of what they had seen before but for the sparkling 

 glacier. The river now flowed along, glittering in the bright sun- 

 light, between banks covered with flowering plants. Bright yellow 

 poppies gleamed all over the verdure-clad slopes, with sturdy heath 

 blooms, daisies, and other blossoms mingling, and over them were 

 flitting innumerable white and yellow butterflies. Bumble-bees 

 droned, and flies, as well as the familiar daddy-long-legs, were 

 everywhere present, and also their arch-enemies, the spiders. 

 Ptarmigan, their white plumage somewhat speckled with dark 

 feathers, plovers, and birds of smaller size, were seen on the wing; 

 while over the verdant sides of the valley and along the banks of 

 the river, large herds of musk oxen were browsing, with calves fol- 

 lowing the cows. The sky was brilliantly blue and almost free from 

 clouds. In the face of so much that was beautiful and full of life, 

 it was difficult to realize that a few months later the valley would 

 again be desolate and deserted, owning once more the supremacy 

 of the icy grip of the frost and snow. 



Sledging parties were sent northward, one of them reaching 

 the spot where the "Alert," of the Nares expedition, had passed the 

 winter of 1875. It had been intended to go farther, but the ice 

 proved impassable, and they were obliged to return after reaching 

 a latitude of 82 degrees 56 minutes. Another party, under Lieu- 

 tenant Lockwood, second in command of the expedition, had better 

 fortune. 



Setting out in the early spring, a course was laid across the 

 frozen strait towards Greenland, the party consisting of thirteen 



