300 



GEOGRAPHICAL PEOGRESS AND DISCOVERY. 



in the ice off shore. The weather was now so 

 warm that when the wind was not blowing 

 their clothes felt too heavy. At the site of 

 the camp occupied by Captain Crozier, after 

 abandoning his ship off Cape Jane Franklin, 

 many articles were found, and in a grave, on the 

 evidence of a medal inscribed with his name, 

 were the remains of Lieutenant Irving, third 

 officer of the Terror. On July 3d they reached 

 Cape Felix, the northern extremity of the island, 

 and the limit of the ground to be explored. On 

 their return journey they more thoroughly ex- 

 amined the whole coast, when the snows had 

 entirely disappeared. Graves were found in 

 many places all along the coast, marked by heaps 

 of stones which the gallant band had tenderly 

 and reverently erected over the heads of their 

 fallen companions; and fragments of boats, 

 utensils, clothing, etc., were found, but no doc- 

 ument or jotted minute, save a copy of the 

 brief memorial left by Captain Crozier when 

 he set out with the crews of the Erebus and 

 Terror, 105 souls in all, for Back River, which 

 was found by Lieutenant Hobson, of the Mc- 

 Clintock expedition, in 1859, and is the only 

 record of the Franklin expedition which has 

 yet been brought to light. 



Difficult as had been the march ever since 

 the snow began to melt, it became tenfold 

 more so when the ice broke up, and all the 

 stores and equipments had to be carried on 

 the men's backs, while the dogs had all they 

 could do to drag the empty sledges over the 

 dry land. While the luggage was being thus 

 transported to the camp at Cape Herschel, the 

 explorers continued their researches. Mean- 

 while the cold season was again coming on : by 

 the last of August the Esquimaux could build 

 iglus of ice eight inches thick. No lack of 

 food was felt, as the reindeer gathered at the 

 southern end of the island at the approach of 

 winter, waiting for the strait to freeze over. 

 The ice was not safe for the heavily laden 

 sledges before the 1st of November. While 

 the main party made their way straight to 

 Back River, after giving Starvation Cove, the 

 last camping-place of the lost crews, another 

 thorough examination, Schwatka and Gilder 

 went around by the west shore of Adelaide 

 Peninsula to seek the spot where that vessel 

 sank, which was driven through Victoria Strait. 

 Here, at the mouth of Sherman Inlet, they 

 obtained from Esquimaux, among other relics, 

 a portion of a boat which had landed from the 

 lost ship. They had a hard journey up Sher- 

 man Inlet and across McCrary Isthmus to the 

 rendezvous at the rapids of Back River. The 

 heavy sledges were dragged with difficulty 

 through the deep, new-fallen snow; icicles 

 formed by the severe frost impeded them ; the 

 overworked dogs were poorly fed, and their 

 strength failed rapidly ; all were kept on short 

 rations, as their store of meat was nearly ex- 

 hausted, and there was no game to be found. 

 Moreover, they had to pick their way in dark- 

 ness and twilight, as the sun scarcely rose 



above the horizon, and it was growing bitter 

 cold, the mean temperature for November 

 being 23 below zero, Fahr., the lowest read- 

 ing 49 below. The journey took weeks long- 

 er than they expected ; but when they came 

 to the rapids, on December 5th, the main 

 body had not arrived. On the 10th they came, 

 and all started for Hudson Bay. This was the 

 worst march of all, a constant struggle for life. 

 The provision of fish which they took from 

 Back River, salmon and a species of herring, 

 soon ran out; and reindeer were so scarce 

 that hunters were often absent several days 

 before getting a shot at one. Farther south, 

 where they were more plentiful, the travelers 

 had to defend themselves from the wolves, 

 and several times the hunters barely escaped 

 being devoured. The reindeer-flesh was now 

 too lean to afford good nourishment, and had 

 to be eaten, moreover, not only raw, but when 

 frozen so stiff that it had to be sawed into 

 small bits and thawed in the mouth ; and of 

 lard and tallow they had only enough to light 

 their iglus. More than half of their dogs died 

 on the route. Snow-storms often kept them 

 in camp several days. The cold was the most 

 prolonged and severe ever suffered by a polar 

 exploring party. The thermometric readings 

 were so extraordinary that their accuracy has 

 been called in question. The average temper- 

 ature of the month of December was 50 5 F., 

 and the minimum reading 09 ; the mean for 

 January was 53; the minimum, observed 

 January 3d, 71; the mean temperature in 

 February was 45; the lowest 69. The 

 thermometer stood below 60 under the zero- 

 point for twenty-seven several days, and for 

 sixteen days it was below 68. The natives 

 said that the winter was an unusually severe 

 one. Instances of lower temperature than 

 Schwatka's minimum of 71 F. have been 

 observed by other travelers. Nares read 74 

 F. on March 4, 1876, at Floeberg Beach, and 

 Dr. Kane, Captain Parry, and several Russian 

 explorers have experienced equally severe cold. 

 In Siberia the thermometer has been known 

 to fall to 76 F. In this very region Back's 

 thermometer registered 70 in 1835, and Hall 

 recorded 65. After they reached Depot 

 Island their privations were not ended. The 

 Esquimaux there could furnish a small quan- 

 tity of seal and walrus meat, but the supplies 

 promised had not been left for them. They 

 were reduced to chewing walrus-skins for nour- 

 ishment before the weather allowed of good 

 hunting. They were called for by Captain 

 Baker, who had wintered there, at the end of 

 his next summer's sealing-voyage. 



The unexampled sledge-journey of Schwatka 

 and his companions, lasting from April 1, 1879, 

 to March 4, 1880, covered 3,250 miles. Im- 

 portant corrections were made by them in the 

 map of the country traversed. Instead of flow- 

 ing northeastward, the course of Back River 

 is nearly due north for as far as they followed it 

 up, about ninety miles. The coast-lines of King 



