588 CAPTAIN HALL'S ILLNESS. 



spring reach or nearly approach the North Pole. Though 

 disappointed partially in this, he yet had the satisfaction 

 of setting foot on land farther north than any white man 

 had before attained, and of discovering a channel which 

 he had reason to believe might prove favorable, in the 

 spring and summer, to the consummation of his great am- 

 bition of reaching the pole itself. But ere the spring he 

 went on a longer journey, to a brighter, more genial clime 

 than that of his earthly hopes. 



On the 24th of October the party reached the vessel, 

 very much fatigued, but all apparently in good health. 

 Shortly after his arrival, however, the captain found him- 

 self quite indisposed, though, not at all alarmed at his 

 symptoms, he did not seek the surgeon, but sought rather 

 the steward and asked for a cup of coffee, thinking that 

 would allay the nausea and dizziness that were distressing 

 him. A very brief extract from the testimony of the 

 steward at the investigation by Secretary Robeson, re- 

 ferred to hereafter, will serve to show the first impressions 

 of that acute observer on the incipient stage of the cap- 

 tain's illness : " He came back on the 24th of October ; I 

 met him in the gangway and shook hands with him ; he 

 seemed pleased with the way things had been going while 

 he was away ; presume he had a good account from Cap- 

 tain Buddington; he thanked the men for conducting 

 themselves so well while away ; when he came into the 

 cabin, the heat seemed to affect him very much ; the tem- 

 perature in the cabin was about 60 to 70 degrees ; outside 

 it was about 15 to 20 degrees below zero; I think the 

 change of temperature affected him ; he asked me if I had 

 any coffee ready; I told him there was always enough 

 under way down stairs in the galley ; I asked him if he 

 would have anything else ; he said that was all he wanted ; 

 I went down stairs and got a cup of coffee; I did not 

 make the coffee ; I told the cook it was for Captain Hall ; 

 he drank white lump-sugar in his coffee; never cared for 



