BENNETT ISLAND. 655 



At six A. m. the doctor and Mr. Dunbar returned. 

 They had gone, they thought, four miles ahead of our 

 dinner-camp, and from there had concluded they saw 

 no icater at all, but all land ; and, though they could 

 form no estimate of the distance of the land, they 

 thought the ice extended to its base. This is slightly 

 different from the " open water in two days," but it 

 cannot be helped. After mature consideration, I have 

 decided to keep on heading for the land for several 

 days yet. From the manner in which we have raised 

 it in two days, I hope it is less distant than supposed ; 

 and, as the appearance south can no longer be seen, it 

 is evident that the land west is the nearer. Chipp says 

 he saw a similar appearance north this morning. 



If we can get on this land, we shall, at all events, 

 know that we are stationary, and that the wind will not 

 carry us around aimlessly. Unless the Liakhoff Islands 

 are incorrectly charted, this land is not one of them, for 

 the northern point on the chart is still south of west 

 considerably of our position on the 16th. If there 

 ever was open water north of these Liakhoff Islands, as 

 stated by Wrangel, Anjou, and Hedenstrom, we may 

 get to it from the south side of this land. " A bird in 

 the hand is worth two in the bush," and I will head for 

 what I can plainly see, instead of bearing away across 

 a shifting sea of ice for something which I cannot see. 



Supper at 6.30 a. m. Piped down at nine A. m. 

 Called all hands at six p. m. Breakfasted at seven p. m. 

 Bright and absolutely cloudless. Thermometer 31°. 

 Temperature inside tent No. 6, 48.5°. Under way at 

 eight p. m., and immediately had a stretch of three 

 fourths of a mile, over good ice, bringing up at a lead 

 two hundred yards wide. In this we secured a large 



