59(> THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



pects possible before them. An occasional auk was killed, but 

 very few were secured, as they usually fell in the water, where 

 they could not be recovered, all the boats being lost. Seals, 

 walrus, and ducks were plentiful and continually sporting in the 

 sea before them as if to tempt and aggravate their hunger, for 

 none of these could have been secured if killed. Their deplor- 

 able situation was rapidly destroying the minds of the men, 

 weakened by the lack of food and strained by despair, and Greely 

 realized the increasing necessity of securing relief at all hazards 

 or giving up to fate. As a last resource, in which there was but 

 the least gleam of hope, on November 2d, he detailed Corporal 

 Joseph Elison and three others to attempt the recovery of the 

 beef cached by Capt. Nares at Cape Isabella in 1879, distant 

 thirty miles from camp. The weather at the time was terrible, 

 but the threatened starvation made it absolutely necessary to ob- 

 tain the food if possible. Sergeants Rice and Linn, and Privates 

 Fredericks and Elison started with a daily ration of four ounces 

 of meat, eight ounces of bread, a little tea and five ounces of al- 

 cohol for cooking purposes, with the temperature 35 below zero, 

 the wind strong, the snow soft and the ice hummocky. In four 

 days they had reached the cached meat and were on their return 

 journey on the morning of November 6. They had left their 

 rations and sleeping-bags at Cape Isabella, where they had en- 

 camped on the ice, and started with only a cup of tea, intending 

 to subsist on the frozen meat and save the extra weight of sleep- 

 ing-bags, provisions, and cooking-gear. They also intended to 

 use the wooden barrels for fuel, and thus save their alcohol, and 

 return to the ice camp for dinner. On their return Elison suffered 

 with thirst and began to eat snow, against the orders and advice of 



** , ' O 



the others. His hands and mits became wet, and, as a northwest 

 gale was blowing, his hands were soon frozen. The snow had also 

 caused his mouth and tongue to blister and he rapidly became weak. 

 The men hurried into camp and then discovered that Elison had 

 also frozen his feet. They cut his boots off and put him into the 

 sleeping-bag, and restored the circulation in his hands and feet 

 by friction. After a terrible night they ccmtintied on their 



