108 ELISIIA KENT KANE. 



their boats upon the ice-cliffs. In one instance they 

 secured a retreat in a capacious cave formed in the 

 ice, which Dr. Kane appropriately named the Weary 

 Man's Rest. Another refuge received the equally 

 suitable epithet of Providence Halt. On the 18th of 

 July they reached the Crimson Cliffs and replenished 

 their stock of food by obtaining a large quantity of 

 the Arctic birds termed auks. Subsequently they 

 were compelled to abandon one of the boats, the 

 Red Eric, and resume for a period their laborious 

 travel with sledges upon the ice. The strength of 

 the men began to be exhausted ; they were afflicted 

 with short breathing; and their feet swelled so badly 

 that they were obliged to cut open their canvas 

 boots. Some of them were unable to sleep. Never- 

 theless they manfully persisted, toiling to overcome 

 every obstacle, undaunted by any danger or diffi- 

 culty, until at last, after an unparalleled journey of 

 eighty days, they saw tossing upon the distant wave 

 the first kayak or canoe of the Greenlander. As it 

 approached them they hailed its welcome occupant, 

 who proved to be Carl Mossyn, from the Danish 

 settlement of Kingatok. From him they soon 

 learned their exact location, and the brief outline 

 of news with which lie was acquainted of the great 

 world from which they had so long been exiles. At 

 length, on the 5th of August, the wearied travellers 



