340 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



a large expanse of open water, of which we made 

 the best possible use. After dinner, which we had on 

 some rocks, went on again. We had soon, however, 

 to come to a dead halt. Large blocks of ice had been 

 driven in close to a point where we had to pass. 

 We could not haul our boat over the ice to the open 

 water beyond, as the floe inside the point was in 

 places full of holes. The only way was to try and 

 loosen the ice blocks and force our boat through the 

 pools of water here and there. We set to work at 

 one block which seemed to be a kind of key-piece 

 to the rest. We chiselled and shoved at this for 

 some hours before it started. The ice now slackened. 

 We shoved and hauled our boat along with all 

 our might. We struggled on for some distance and 

 then camped. We thank God for this day's help 

 and take courage." 



" Tuesday, July 22 . We made a capital day's 

 work. We met with but little ice and were able to 

 sail for about four hours. We are only one full day's 

 journey from the station (Signia). 



" Thursday, July 24. We struck a point of land 

 not far from Signia. We hugged this land and were 

 soon at the station. To our surprise we found 

 Mr. Sampson's vessel, the Forget-me-Not, lying 

 at anchor. Both Mr. Jansen, who was in charge of 

 the station, and the captain of the vessel received 

 me very kindly. Mr. Sampson himself, however, 

 was away with some Eskimos walrus hunting, but he 



