NAEEATIVE 



OF 



A VOYAGE to the POLAR SEA 



DURING 1875-76. 



CHAPTEK I. 



ANXIETY ABOUT ALDRICH'S PARTY— LIEUTENANT MAY SENT TO EELIEVE 

 HIM — GEESE AND DUCKS ARRIVE — RETURN OF ALDRICH — COM- 

 MENCEMENT OF THAW — EXTRACTS FROM LIEUT. ALDRICH's OFFICIAL 

 REPORT. 



The crippled state of Commander Markham's men 

 raised serious apprehensions regarding the health of the 

 western division of travellers. They were due at the 

 Joseph Henry depot on the 13th, but as Aldrich's last 

 accounts informed me that the provisions he had saved 

 would enable him to prolong his journey six or seven 

 days, and not expecting that his men would be called 

 upon to undergo much more severe labour than former 

 Arctic travellers had successfully combated, I was not 

 greatly alarmed about him. Nevertheless frequent and 

 anxious visits were made to the look-out hill, from 

 whence the black pile of provisions forming his depot 



VOL. II. B 



