SIGHTING HUMBOLDT GLACIER. 287 



the Nalegaksoak such a fine coat, for his wife and 

 children, who had not tasted bear-meat for ever so 

 long a time, and finally for his dogs. " See how un- 

 happy they are," said he, pointing to his tired team, 

 which seemed to possess little appreciation of the elo- 

 quence that was being wasted upon them, for they 

 had all fallen down in their tracks as soon as we had 

 halted the sledges. Four days of hauling through 

 drifts and hummocks had made them care little for a 

 bear-hunt. 



Despite the difficulties of the traveling, three days 

 more brought me within view of the great Hum- 

 boldt Glacier, but the ice was becoming worse and 

 worse, the icebergs were multiplying, my dogs were 

 being worn out to no purpose ; and much as I should 

 have liked to continue the journey, there was no ob- 

 ject to be gained by doing so. The ground had been 

 covered by Dr. Kane's parties, and there was nothing 

 to be learned further than I had experienced already, 

 namely, that, in no event, could I get my boat to the 

 polar sea in this direction. Whether I could do any 

 better by the passage across the Sound to Grinnell 

 Land remained to be seen. In any case, this last 

 was clearly my only route. 



The Humboldt Glacier was visible from the top of 

 an iceberg. It revealed itself in a long line of bluish 

 whiteness. Cape Agassiz, the last known point of the 

 Greenland coast, bounded it on the right, and to the 

 left it melted away in the remote distance. The line 

 of its trend appeared to me to be more to the east- 

 ward than given in the original survey of Mr. Bonnsall, 

 of Dr. Kane's expedition ; and, although of little prac- 

 tical importance, yet this circumstance, coupled with 

 observations hereafter to be recorded, have caused me 



