ELISHA KENT KANE. 115 



evident that we must soon be frozen in. At this juncture my 

 officers addressed to me written opinions in favor of a return 

 to a more southern harbor ; but, as such a step would have 

 cost us our dearly-purchased progress and removed us from 

 the field of our intended observations, I could not accede to 

 their views. I determined, therefore, to start on foot with 

 a party of observation, to seek a spot which might be eligible 

 as a starting-point for our future travel, and, if such a one 

 were found, to enter at once upon the fall duties of search. 

 This step determined on, the command of the brig was com- 

 mitted to Mr. Ohlsen, and I started on the 29th of August 

 with a detachment, carrying a whale-boat and sledge. The 

 ice soon checked the passage of our boat ; but I left her, and 

 proceeded with a small sledge along the ledge of ice which, 

 under the name of ( ice-foot/ I have before described as 

 clinging to the shore. We were obliged, of course, to follow 

 all the indentations of the coast, and our way was often com- 

 pletely obstructed by the discharge of rocks from the adjacent 

 cliffs. In crossing a glacier we came near losing our party, 

 and were finally compelled to abandon the sledge and continue 

 our journey on foot. We succeeded, however, in completing 

 our work, and reached a projecting cape, from which, at an 

 elevation of eleven hundred feet, I commanded a prospect of 

 the ice to the north and west as high as latitude 80 N. A 

 black ridge running nearly due north, which we found after- 

 ward to be a glacier, terminated our view along the Greenland 

 coast to the eastward. Numerous icebergs were crowded in 

 masses throughout the axis of the channel; and, as far as our 

 vision extended, the entire surface was a frozen sea. The 

 island named Louis Napoleon on the charts of Captain Ingle- 

 field does not exist. The resemblance of ice to land will 

 readily explain the misapprehension. 

 " The result of this journey, although not cheering, confirmed 



