GREENLAND BY THE POLAR SEA 



On the 19th of May Beaumont writes : 



" No one will ever be able to understand what hard work we 

 had during these days, but the following may give them some 

 idea of it : When we halted for lunch, two of the men crept on 

 all fours for 200 yards, rather than walk through this terrible 

 snow." 



On the 22nd of May they were forced to begin the return 

 journey without having reached Mount Hooker. Subsequently 

 a report was left on the small Reef Island, and also the one on 

 Dragon Point which we had now found. We decided to take 

 only the record from Dragon Point, as the other one, which 

 would probably be similar to ours, ought to stand as a memorial 

 of English endurance here in the very country where the work 

 was done. During the last days of May everybody with the 

 exception of Beaumont and Gray was ill ; they therefore had to 

 leave behind various things which were not considered absolutely 

 necessary, as the point was reached when the exhausted men had 

 to ride. The first who fell was a sailor named Paul, and another 

 followed him on the 7th of June. On the 10th of June they 

 reached the depot at Repulse Harbour. They had plenty of 

 provisions, but unfortunately it was just the provisions which 

 had caused the disaster. 



Open water prevented them from crossing over to the Alert, 

 so they decided to travel down to Hall's Grave. The day after 

 they had altered their course a seaman named Dobing died, and 

 another man named Jones had, because of his weakness, such an 

 awkward fall that he had not the strength to go very much fur- 

 ther. How they managed to pull the sledges up Gap Valley, 

 with all this illness and exhaustion, is a perfect riddle to us who 

 have looked at the stony pass. The English will, which often 

 stiffens into obstinacy, manifested itself here ; there is nothing 

 to say but this, that as there was no other way they went up 

 through Valley Pass. We others can only bare our heads to 

 those who did it. At last they reached Newman Bay, where 

 Beaumont himself, as it was no longer possible to pull all the six 

 comrades along on the sledge, intended to go to Hall's Grave, 

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