RESULTS OF THE VOYAGE. 419 



lingering doubt, of the correctness of my decision 

 to return home, and come out next year strengthened 

 and refitted with steam. If my impulses lead me to 

 try conclusions once more with the ice, my judgment 

 convinces me that it would be at the risk of every 

 thing. As well use a Hudson-river steamboat for a 

 battering-ram as this schooner, with her weakened 

 bows, to encounter the Smith Sound ice. 



" I have secured the following important advantages 

 for the future, and, with these I must, perforce, rest 

 satisfied, for the present : — 



" 1. I have brought my party through without sick- 

 ness, and have thus shown that the Arctic winter 

 of itself breeds neither scurvy nor discontent. 



" 2. I have shown that men may subsist themselves 

 in Smith Sound independent of support from home. 



" 3. That a self-sustaining colony may be estab- 

 lished at Port Foulke, and be made the basis of an 

 extended exploration. 



"4. That the exploration of this entire region is 

 practicable from Port Foulke, — having from that 

 starting-point pushed my discoveries much beyond 

 those of my predecessors, without any second party 

 in the field to cooperate Avith me, and under the most 

 adverse circumstances. 



" 5. That, with a reasonable degree of certainty, it 

 is shown that, with a strong vessel, Smith Sound may 

 be navigated and the open sea reached beyond it. 



" 6. I have shown that the open sea exists. 



" And now, having proven this much, I shall return 

 to Boston, repair the schooner, get a small steamer, 

 and come back as early next spring as I can. The 



