3IO NEAREST THE POLE 



brought to the ship, and another bull musk-ox 

 killed. 



March 13th, the final amputation of my toes was per- 

 formed. Pending the arrival of more natives, I sent a 

 dory to Cape Louis Napoleon to be cached, and had 

 dog-food and current supplies advanced to Cape Eraser. 



March 31st, a contingent of five natives and twenty- 

 seven dogs came in. My messenger had been delayed 

 by heavy winds and rough ice, and the ravages of the 

 dog disease had made it necessary to send to the more 

 southerly settlements for dogs. 



April 3d, Henson left with these natives and thirty- 

 five dogs, with instructions to move the supplies at 

 Cape Lawrence to Carl Ritter Bay, then push on with 

 such loads as he could carry without double-banking 

 to Fort Conger, rest his dogs and dry his clothing, 

 and if I did not join him by that time to start back. 



April 19th, my left foot had healed, though it was still 

 too weak and stiff from long disuse for me to move 

 without crutches. On this day I started for Fort 

 Conger with a party of ten, some fifty dogs, and seven 

 sledges loaded with dog-food and supplies for return 

 caches. 



April 23d, I met Henson returning with his party at 

 Cape Lawrence. From there I sent back my tempo- 

 rary help and borrowed dogs, and went on with a party 

 of seven, including five natives. April 28th we reached 

 Conger. 



May 4th, having dried all our gear and repaired 

 sledges, I started for a reconnoissance of the Greenland 

 northwest coast. I should have started two days 

 earlier but for bad weather. Following the very ar- 



