DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 287 



single day's railroad travel from the Pole." Thus it passes away 

 into the center of the Greenland continent, which is occupied by an 

 unbroken sea of ice, twelve hundred miles in length and of great 

 depth, that receives a perpetual increase from the constantly falling 

 snows. A frozen sea, yet a sea in constant motion, rolling onward 

 slowly, laboriously, but surely, to find an outlet at each fiord or 

 valley, and to load the seas of Greenland and the Atlantic with 

 mighty icebergs. 



This great glacier effectually terminated the labors of the 

 explorers in that direction, and Dr. Kane decided that their future 

 search should be made to the north and east of Cape Sabine, so 

 named by Captain Inglesfield, on the coast of Ellesmere Land, 

 which lay on the opposite side of Smith Sound. The expedition' 

 above mentioned was one of severe labors and much suffering upon 

 the part of the explorers. The heroic leader, indeed, almost suc- 

 cumbed to the terrible hardships of this adventurous journey, and 

 was Carried back to the sledge in so prostrate a condition that recov- 

 ery seemed hopeless. It may be doubted, indeed, whether his 

 strength was ever thoroughly recruited, though the skill and atten- 

 tion of Dr. Hayes, and his own undaunted spirit, rescued him from 

 the jaws of death. All the men were more or less afflicted, and in 

 the middle of June only three were able to do duty, and of the officers 

 Dr. Hayes alone was on his feet. 



During the succeeding spring and summer other expeditions 

 were sent out, the most important being under the lead of William 

 Morton and comprising McGary, Bonsall, Hickey, Riley, and Hans, 

 their Eskimo companion. Its orders were to push forward to the 

 base of the Humboldt Glacier, there replenish their provisions from 

 the cache, and while some of the men attempted to scale and survey 

 the glacier, Morton and Hans were to cross the bay in the dog- 

 sledge and follow the northwest coast, in the hope of discovering a 

 northern outlet from the extensive Kane Sea. 



Some interesting results were obtained by the latter party. 



