606 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



and now we come down to our traveling rations, nearly. 

 Chocolate, cocoa, and cheese we still have, in addition, 

 and so long as carrying them does not stop our way we 

 shall take them with us. 



Piped down at 8.30 a. m. ; called all hands at six 

 p. M. Weather foggy. At seven breakfasted ; at eight 

 started ahead sleds, — Dunbar and I going ahead to 

 mark out a road. Much water under the surface crust ; 

 broke in frequently to our knees. Placed two flags 

 half a mile south of this camp, and sent doctor and sick 

 ahead to this spot at 9.30. We did not succeed in get- 

 ting all our gear up last march, and have to send back 

 for six sled loads. By midnight everything was so well 

 along that — 



June 25th, Saturday, found us getting ready for din- 

 ner, to which we sat down at one A. m., turning the 

 hands to at two A. m. At midnight I had got a meridian 

 altitude, which to my amazement gave me a latitude of 

 N. 77° 46'. There was no mistake in the observation, 

 and I went over my figures a half dozen times to find 

 any error. But each time 77° 46' was the result. I 

 overhauled my sextant, but that was all right, and my 

 amazement increased. To start in 77° IS' N., travel 

 south a week, and then find one's self twenty-eight 

 miles further north than the starting point is enough to 

 make one thoughtful and anxious. For a long time I 

 pondered, and for the moment was inclined to attribute 

 the strange result to some extraordinary refraction, but 

 upon looking back at my rejected Sumner of the 23d 

 I found that the intersection gave 77° 46', and so was 

 more anxious than ever. At 4.30 A. M. and 7.30 A. m. 

 I got another Sumner, and this, plotted, gave me 77° 43' 

 for a latitude. My rough means of making a skeleton 

 chart accounted in part for the difference from the 



