

294 



VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. 



April 



walking, one on either side in front of the sledge to 

 guide it, and give it a heave over to right or left as 

 required, and to clear the lines, which frequently catch 

 in pieces of ice, and the fourth man steering at the 

 back of the sledge, we got on at a very fair pace, and 

 reached the land at the north point of Wrangel Bay. 

 We then travelled on the crack underneath the ice- 

 wall until we came to an obstruction, when seeing a very 



DOG-SLEDGE DRIVING OVER HUMMOCKS. 



nice-looking floe not more than a couple of hundred 

 yards off, we unfortunately were tempted to try it, 

 finding very good hard snow ; but it led us gradually 

 away from the land, and by the time we had got to 

 the end of it we found we were a mile from the shore 

 hummocks, and with a rough road between. Having 

 picked out the best route, set to work with pick- 

 axes to make a way for the sledge, but it was not 



