26 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. May 



hands an extra two hours and a-half s sleep. Wind 

 gone, but the dull leaden weather remains. A Sunday 

 morning, with a desultory conversation going on while 

 waiting for pemmican, now of England, now of fresh 

 food and vegetables — a pretty constant topic — and an 

 occasional lamentation as to the wretched state of the 

 legs, with an expectation that they may be the only 

 cases, and the fear that in consequence their work will 

 not bear comparison with that performed by the 

 other sledges and former Arctic travellers. About 

 6 a.m. the mist cleared off gradually, and the sun burst 

 forth after an absence of several days. 



'Under way at 6.15 a.m., and the sledge went 

 merrily down the hill ; but I repented my decision of 

 last night to keep easy work for a start, for the sledge 

 was too lively for the unfortunate cripples, some of 

 whom were in positive agony. After proceeding about 

 a mile we reached the level floe of a bay seven to 

 eight miles deep, with steep cliffy shores and hills 

 rising from 400 to 1,000 feet in height. These hills, 

 like all those we have met with, do not run in ranges, 

 but are scattered irregularly about, and separated and 

 cut up by ravines in all directions. The south-west 

 point is low and shelving, and just open of it, about 

 twenty miles distant, shows out another cape, which I 

 have pointed out to the men as the spot from which 

 I shall be perfectly satisfied to turn back. 



' The bay we are crossing is Milne Bay of the 

 chart. The travelling would be very good were it not 

 for frequent soft patches of snow, into which we some- 

 times sink above our knees. A snow-bunting flew 

 within twenty yards of the sledge, and is the first 



