KENNEDY'S JOURNEY. 383 



cced onwards with as much as they could possibly drag 

 or carry of the necessaries of life. 



Among their provisions and equipments, procured 

 from the old deposit at Fuiy Beach, were seven hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds of pemmican, one small sack of 

 flour, five gallons of spirits of wine, a hundred and 

 twenty pounds of coal, four bags of biscuits, and various 

 knives, saws, astronomical instruments, &c. 



Of these old stores of the Fury, Kennedy says, he found 

 the provisions "not only in the best preservation, but 

 much superior in quality, after thirty years of exposure 

 to the weather, to some of our own stores, and those 

 supplied to the other Arctic expeditions. This high 

 state of preservation I cannot help attributing in some 

 measure to the strength and thickness of the tins, iia 

 which the preserved meats, vegetables, and soups, had 

 been placed. The flour had all caked in solid lumps, 

 which had to be reground and passed through a sieve 

 before it was fit for the cook's hands. In other respects 

 it was fresh and sweet as ever, and supplied us with a 

 stock of excellent biscuit." 



These articles, with the tackling and sledges, made 

 altogether a total dead weight of about two thousand 

 pounds ; the whole being lashed down, to the smallest pos- 

 sible compass, on four flat-bottomed Indian sledges, two 

 of which were drawn by the five dogs, assisted by two 

 of the men, the other two being dragged by the rest of 

 the party. 



It was a fine, clear, mild day when they started, and 

 they found the travelling very good at first, the beach 

 being flat, and the ice sufficiently smooth to admit of 

 proceeding with facility. Fortune, however, seldom 

 favors Arctic travellers long. They soon found their 

 bright sky overcast, and the mild breeze changed into 

 a cold, bitter, frosty gale. Under these circumstances 



