SLEDGING PARTIES. 327 



very material importance to the people. They travelled 

 when the cold was so intense that bottles of water, car- 

 ried by the men in their breasts, froze after an hour or 

 so ; salt pork broke like suet, and rum thickened. This 

 journey made it certain that Franklin had not passed 

 west of the Parry Islands. 



The other two parties moved in higher latitudes, and 

 were stopped a little west of Sabine Island, yet they 

 traversed tracts and encountered incidents of high 

 interest. 



The parties of less limited range than the " extended n 

 ones deposited provisions, set up marks, made obser- 

 vations, ascertained positions, and effected minor ex- 

 plorations ; and were absent during periods of from 

 twelve to thirty-four days. They may seem to have had 

 easier work than the others ; yet they suffered more 

 severely, for no fewer than twenty-eight of their men 

 were frost-bitten, and one died from exhaustion and 

 cold. The extended parties got back in good health, 

 and needed only a little rest and comfort to repair the 

 effects of their privation and fatigue. But not one of 

 all the parties, near or remote, obtained the slightest 

 trace of the missing adventurers ; and Captain Austin, 

 after receiving and considering well the reports of all, 

 " arrived at the conclusion that the expedition under 

 Sir John Franklin did not prosecute the object of its 

 mission to the southward and westward of Wellington 

 Strait. 77 



The sledge-parties for the exploration of Wellington 

 Channel amounted to six, and comprised forty-one men, 

 and were officered by Captain Stewart, Messrs. Marshall, 

 Reid, and J. Stuart, and Surgeons Sutherland and 

 Goodsir. They started on the 17th of April, under the 

 general superintendence of Captain Penny ; but they 

 soon encountered severe weather, and were buffeted 



