124 ELISHA KENT KANE. 



enter upon the labors of a day until we were fully refreshed 

 from those of the day before. We halted regularly at bed- 

 time and for meals. The boats, if afloat, were drawn up, the 

 oars always disposed on the ice as a platform for the stores; 

 our buffalo-skins were spread, each man placed himself with 

 his pack according to his number, the cook for the day made 

 his fire, and the ration, however scanty, was formally measured 

 out. Prayers were never intermitted. I believe firmly that 

 to these well-sustained observances we are largely indebted fc\ 

 our final escape. 



"As we moved onward, we were forced to rely principally on 

 our guns for a supply of food. We suffered, when off the 

 coast immediately north of Wostenholm Sound, from a scarcity 

 of game, and were subjected to serious sickness in consequence. 

 But at Dalrymple Island, a little farther south, we recruited 

 rapidly on eggs of the eider-duck; and from this point to 

 Conical Rock we found birds in abundance. Again, at the 

 most uncertain period of our passage, when our stock of pro- 

 visions was nearly exhausted, we were suddenly arrested in our 

 course by high and rugged land-ice, which hugged a glacier 

 near Cape Dudley Digges. We were too weak to drag our 

 boats over this barrier, and were driven in consequence to land 

 under the cliffs. To our joyful surprise, we found them 

 teeming with animal life. This transition from enfeebling 

 want to the plenty which restored our strength, we attributed 

 to the direct interposition of Providence. The lumme (Urise, 

 Brunichii, and Troile) was the fowl which we here found in 

 greatest numbers. We dried upon the rocks about two 

 hundred pounds of its meat, which we carefully saved for the 

 transit of Melville Bay. The rest of the coast, except under 

 the glaciers, was followed with less difficulty. We found peat 

 of good quality, and plenty of food. Our daily allowance of 

 birds was twelve to a man. They were boiled into a rich 



