ELISHA KENT KANE. 121 



this manner been transferred by a series of journeyings equal 

 in the aggregate to eleven hundred miles. On the 17th of 

 May, having authenticated by appropriate surveys the neces- 

 sities of our condition and made all our preparations for the 

 journey, the sledge-boats left the vessel, dragged by the 

 officers and men, under the immediate charge of Mr. Henry 

 Brooks; a duty which he fulfilled with unswerving fidelity 

 and energy. 



" My collections of natural history were also carried as far 

 as the sick-station at Anoatok ; but, under a reluctant convic- 

 tion that a further effort to preserve them would risk the 

 safety of the party, they were finally abandoned. It is grate- 

 ful to me to recollect the devotion of my comrades, who 

 volunteered to sacrifice shares of both food and clothing to 

 secure these records of our labors. We were able, not with- 

 out difficulty, to carry our chronometers and the various in- 

 struments, magnetic and others, which might allow me still 

 to make and verify our accustomed observations. We left 

 behind the theodolite of the United States Coast Survey and 

 the valuable self-registering barometric apparatus furnished 

 by the American Philosophical Society. Our library, as well 

 those portions which had been furnished by the government 

 and by Mr. Grinnell as my own, were necessarily sacrificed. 

 We preserved only the documents of the Expedition. The 

 first portions of our journey filled me with misgivings, as the 

 weakness of the party showed itself in dropsical swellings 

 and excessive difficulty of respiration. In spite of a careful 

 system of training, the first exposure to temperatures ranging 

 about zero and below it were to an invalid party extremely 

 trying and for the first eight days the entire distance accom- 

 plished from the ship did not exceed fifteen miles. Although 

 the mean rate of transportation was afterward increased, it 

 never exceeded three and a half miles a day over ice. Some 



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