622 THE VOYAGE OF THE JEANNETTE. 



them to the quick-running clog sleds, and in this man- 

 ner I hope to lighten the heavier sleds so as to enable 

 the men to haul two sleds at a time. While the after- 

 dinner work was going on, Mr. Dunbar and I went 

 ahead to look for a road for to-morrow. At the camp- 

 ing place we seem to have come to the end of the 

 heavy, smooth floe over which the last half of yester- 

 day's and both portions of to-day's work was done. 



The narrow lead which I mentioned as running par- 

 allel with it for the last one fourth mile separates it 

 from some disconnected pieces of ice of last winter's 

 formation, extending for about a mile, and then we 

 seem to come to some old ice again. The prospect is 

 not bad ; I find we are not consuming our daily ration 

 — one pound of pemmican — nor have we ever done 

 so ; and, strange to say, the dogs do not sometimes eat 

 theirs. We all like it amazingly, eating it cold three 

 times a clay, like cake out of our hands, but yet we 

 seem to have enough on less than a pound. 



Our greatest comfort morning and evening is Lie- 

 big's Extract, or beef-tea. Our daily allowance of one 

 ounce per man is sufficient to give us a pint morning 

 and evening, and I know of no more refreshing and 

 comforting thing up here than this same warm drink. 

 Some tents take the whole ounce at dinner, but we in 

 No. 1 prefer it when we get up, and when our day's 

 work is clone. 



I find, also, that one pint of alcohol is necessary for 

 each tent each meal to cook coffee, beef-tea, or choco- 

 late, as the case may be, and to melt enough snow and 

 broken-down ice-crystals for drinking water. This, I 

 am sure, is in excess of former sledge, travelers, but as 

 yet I can see no way of reducing it. Supper at 7-15 

 a. m. Our flags are all flying in honor of the day, 



