1870 DEPARTURE OF SLEDGE TRAVELLERS. 283 



lightly fluttering in the breeze. Every man of our 

 company was present, the ship being tenanted only by 

 poor Petersen, who was bearing his sufferings and 

 trials most patiently. Mr. Pnllen ended the usual daily 

 prayers with the doxology, in which everyone joined. 

 It was a most impressive scene ; each heart being 

 inspired with enthusiasm, and with a feeling of con- 

 fidence that the labours, privations, and hardships that 

 the travellers were about to undergo would be man- 

 fully battled with. 



They started at 11 a.m., each man in the northern 

 division dragging 230 lbs., and those of the western 

 division 242 lbs. The programme was as follows : 

 Lieutenant Aldrich, assisted by a sledge crew under 

 the command of Lieutenant Giffard, was to explore the 

 shores of Grant Land towards the north and west, along 

 the coast-line he had discovered in the previous autumn. 

 Commander Markham, seconded by Lieutenant Parr, 

 with two boats, and equipped for an absence of seventy 

 days, was to force his way to the northward over the 

 ice, starting off from the land near Cape Joseph Henry : 

 three sledge crews under the commands of Dr. Moss 

 and Mr. George White, accompanying them as far as 

 their provisions would allow. 



< 4th. — A calm day with a temperature at minus 

 30°. During last night it fell to minus 45°, which is far 

 too low a temperature for tent-life, but such risks have 

 to be run when travelling in these regions. At 8 p.m. 

 Egerton and Eawson, with their two men and seven 

 dogs, returned from Discovery Bay, after an extremely 

 rough and severe journey with a temperature ranging 

 between minus 44° and minus 15°. They are all in 



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