138 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SKA. September 



ice below the snow and water was actually melting, 

 we were obliged to cease dragging the heavily laden 

 sledges between the ship and the shore. 



Though I did not expect any decided movement of 

 the ice to occur during the neap-tides, yet before de- 

 spatching any travellers to a distance, an ample depot 

 of provisions was landed for their support in the event 

 of accident happening to the ship, which at the time 

 I considered highly probable. These arrangements 

 having been completed, Lieutenant Eawson with seven 

 men started on a pioneering journey towards Eobeson 

 Channel. On the 9th, Lieutenant Aldrich with three 

 sledges and twenty-four dogs, accompanied by Captain 

 Feilden and Dr. Moss, started to explore the land 

 towards the north-west. 



Lieutenant Eawson returned on the 10th, having 

 found Cape Eawson impassable by land on account 

 of the steepness of the cliffs, and by sea in conse- 

 quence of the continual movement of the pack which 

 prevented him venturing on it, even with a boat. 



At Floeberg Beach, as the land in the vicinity of the 

 ship was now named, a westerly wind blowing offshore, 

 force 4, combined with an ebb-tide, opened, for the first 

 time since our arrival, a narrow channel extending for 

 half-a-mile beyond Cape Sheridan. On the 11th, the 

 same wind continuing, the channel widened out until it 

 was a mile broad, and extended for six miles to the 

 westward, but ended two miles distant from the shore. 

 As this offered an opportunity of advancing a large 

 depot of provisions and boats to the northward, Captain 

 Markham started with a strong party of men ; having 

 first to draw the boats across the heavy barrier of ice, 



