612 AN ATTEMPT TO REACH THE SHORE. 



sible for them to go to her, as she lay quite near the shore ; 

 the boat was dragged some distance and launched, but the 

 pack-ice was too dense for it to be pushed through, and 

 they had to abandon the attempt. Their floe was drift- 

 ing steadily to the south and south-west. During the en- 

 suing week nothing notable occurred. There were a 

 goodly number of seals about, and the Esquimaux en- 

 deavored to shoot some, but succeeded in getting but three. 

 Their floe coming into contact with fast ice, an attempt 

 was made to reach the shore, but the ice was too thin to 

 bear them. On the 23d they discovered their other boat 

 and tent, on a separate floe, with some dangerously thin 

 ice between ; but knowing that there was a considerable 

 supply of provisions with the tent and boat, while the tent 

 and boat would themselves be useful, a determined effort 

 was made to reach them, which resulted in success. On the 

 strength of the large addition to their stores thus secured 

 the whole party indulged in a hearty meal. At the tent, 

 too, there was some lumber, so, on the next morning, four 

 of the men were sent to bring over planks to build a 

 sledge, and the sledge was put into requisition to carry 

 over additional articles from the tent, trips being made 

 daily, until, on the 27th, they had brought over to the main 

 floe the tent and everything they could find. 



The morning of the 31st broke beautifully, though it 

 was very cold. A party was sent out to test the strength 

 of the ice between the floe and the shore, with a view to 

 an effort to reach the latter by means of sledges and drag- 

 ging the boats laden with their stores. They thought that 

 on the shore they should be able to procure game, and 

 thus have fresh meat, which was a rare treat on the ice. 

 The scouts appear to have brought back a favorable re- 

 port, as on the day following the effort was made, the first 

 objective point being a large ice-field which lay about 

 four miles from their floe, and about one-third nearer the 

 land. After a day's hard work, they got started, with the 



