DR. KANE'S FAMOUS ARCTIC VOYAGE 293 



enough. Even on the floes the axe was often indispensable to carve 

 our path through the hummocks; and many a weary and anxious 

 hour have I looked on and toiled while the sledges were waiting 

 for the way to open. Sometimes, too, both on the land ice and on 

 the belt, we encountered heavy snow drifts, which were to be shov- 

 eled away before we could get along ; and within an hour afterward, 

 or perhaps even at the bottom of the drift, one of the sledge runners 

 would cut through to the water." 



On the 1 2th of June Littleton Island was reached and the sup- 

 plies they had formerly left there were found in excellent order. 

 Ohlsen, one of the bravest and most intelligent of Dr. Kane's crew, 

 at this point succumbed to disease, and was buried decently in a 

 little gorge; his remains being duly protected from fox and bear. 

 After this sad ceremony the march was resumed ; but as they neared 

 the Eskimo settlements it became less toilsome, assistance being 

 freely given by the children of the Arctic world. They volunteered 

 their aid at the drag ropes ; they carried the sick upon hand sledges ; 

 they poured in abundant supplies of fresh food, the quantity of 

 little auks they brought being characterized as "enormous." They 

 fed the explorers and their dogs at the rate of eight thousand bird's 

 a week, all of them caught in their little hand nets. No wonder that, 

 under such favorable circumstances, Dr. Kane and his followers 

 threw off their gloom for a time. The men indulged in their old 

 forecastle songs; the sledges began to move merrily ahead; and the 

 old moody silence gave way to laugh and jest. 



Their progress was somewhat remarkable considering the 

 scanty supply of food to which they were reduced, the daily allow- 

 ance consisting of only six ounces of bread-dust and a lump of tallow 

 about the size of a walnut, to which was added, when fresh water 

 could be procured, a cup of that great restorative, tea. Of this 

 stimulating beverage they drank immoderately and were greatly 

 benefited by it. 



At times, too, they had the opportunity of a very acceptable 



