PURTHER EXPERIENCES OF DR. HAYES 399 



had been, on former occasions of similar labor, at the end of a day. Our 

 progress, slow at the beginning, became slower every moment. The exercise 

 did not warm us as it had done when we were in more vigorous health; and 

 we grew chilly in spite of our exertions. Face, hands, and feet seemed to be 

 pierced by a multitude of torturing needles. The frost penetrated our bodies 

 as if they had been inanimate; and the blood which coursed through our 

 veins felt almost as if it were half congealed. Against the intense cold our 

 imperfect clothing offered a very inadequate shield. The thermometer, when 

 we left the hut, indicated forty-four degrees below zero. The air was fortu- 

 nately quite calm; and the moon, shining with an intensity which it can 

 exhibit only in an Arctic atmosphere, gave us sufficient light. The snow- 

 crowned mountains of Northumberland Island were dimly visible above the 

 northern horizon. These were the distant, uninviting landmarks towards 

 which our steps were directed." 



Before they had gone far, one of the party, named Stephenson, became 

 ill. "In view of this fact it was decided, without much delay, that we should 

 return in a body to the hut, and fall back upon our original plan of sending 

 Petersen and Bonsall with the sledge. Several of us were already severely 

 nipped by the frost; and all felt themselves to be losing rapidly what little 

 strength they had. 



"The cargo was re-stowed ; the invalid, wrapped in blankets, was placed 

 upon it; and our melancholy faces were turned southward, toward our only 

 shelter. Poor as this refuge had always been, it was now worse than ever. 

 A pile of frozen sods and snow was heaped upon the floor, and the cold air 

 was streaming in through the orifice from which these had been taken. 



"We reached it — how or when I doubt if any one of us distinctly remem- 

 bers. I have often tried to bring to recollection some phenomenon which 

 would indicate the period of the day. I cannot even remember the direction 

 of the shadows which our bodies cast upon the moon-lit snow. I know that 

 we did not all arrive together. As we moved slowly forward, first one, and 

 then another, and another of the party fell behind; and it was at least an 

 hour after the sledge had reached the hut before the last one, no longer able 

 to stand upright, came crawling over the plain, upon his hands and knees. 

 More than one of us thus finished the journey ; and it has always appeared to* 

 me as a remarkable exhibition of the instinct of life that we toiled on in our 

 stupefied unconsciousness even of danger. Stephenson's fainting fit evi- 

 dently saved us; for, had we gone two miles farther and then turned back. 



