CHAPTER XXXIV. 



INSPECTION OP THE SCHOONER. — METHOD OF REPAIRING .— THE SERI07S 

 NATURE OF THE INJURY. — THE SCHOONER UNFIT FOR ANT FURTHER ICE- 

 ENCOUNTERS. — EXAMINATION OF MY RESOURCES. — PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. 



The extracts from my journal quoted in the pre- 

 ceding chapter will have sufficed to give the reader 

 an understanding of the results of my spring and 

 summer sledging, and he will have perceived that they 

 were regarded by me as having laid down a correct 

 basis for future exploration. With the character of 

 the Smith Sound ice I had become more familiar, and 

 the accurate determination of the coast-lines enabled 

 me more readily to calculate upon the influence of 

 the summer drift ; while the rotten state of the ice in 

 Kennedy Channel, even at so early a period of the 

 season as May, and the existence of open water be- 

 yond it, left no doubt upon my mind as to the practi- 

 cability of getting a vessel through under ordinarily 

 favorable conditions of the season. 



It will be perceived, therefore, that my future 

 course was dependent upon the condition of tho 

 schooner. 



Although I have not made more than a passing al- 

 lusion to the report of Mr. McCormick as to the dam- 

 age sustained by the vessel, yet the reader will have 

 gathered from my journal that it caused me much 

 anxiety. I was too much prostrated after my return 



