SLEDGING PARTIES. 321 



tised near the ships, to keep the men vigorous, and to 

 train them for their journeyings. 



On the 12th of April the parties for the westward ex- 

 ploration, amounting to one hundred and foar men, with 

 fourteen sledges, were all ready, and proceeded, under 

 the command of Captain Ommaney, to an encampment 

 at the north-west end of Griffith Island. There they 

 underwent a close inspection by Captain Austin, and 

 spent three days in. repose, and in waiting for the abate- 

 ment of a tempestuous wind. On the evening of the 

 15th they united in a special prayer to the Divine Be- 

 ing for protection and guidance, and then, with enthu- 

 siastic determination, started on their arduous enter- 

 prise. 



Six of the parties were "extended 7 ones, to go 

 to the utmost possible distance, three along the south 

 shore, and three along the north shore. The first sledge 

 on the south shore, the Reliance, under Captain Omma- 

 ney, travelled four hundred and eighty miles, discov- 

 ered two hundred and five miles of previously un- 

 known coast, and was absent sixty days. The second, 

 the True Blue, under Lieut. Osborne, travelled five 

 hundred and six miles, discovered seventy miles of 

 coast, and was absent fifty-eight days. And the third, 

 the Enterprise, under Lieut. Browne, travelled three 

 hundred and seventy-five miles, discovered one hundred 

 and fifty miles of coast, and was absent forty-four days. 

 In this travelling sails were occasionally hoisted on the 

 sledges, and large kites were also attached. When the 

 wind was high, these aids propelled the sledge very 

 rapidly, and the whole of the party then rode ; but when 

 the wind fell, the sledges, with their provisions and 

 stores, had to be dragged by main force over the ice 

 by the men harnessed to them. The most western point 

 reached was the extreme one of the True Blue, and ia 

 21 



