710 



THE 



wondering what bad become of tbe vessel, which some thought 

 had sunk, so suddenly did she disappear in the darkness. 



Fortunately, two boats were left on the floe, and with these, 

 when morning came, those on the small ice were rescued, and 

 then the long drifting on a shelterless shore of ice began. They 

 looked in vain for the Polaris to return to them, but she had been 

 irresistibly carried away tp the shore of Greenland, as already 

 related in the summary of Arctic voyages. 



The floe upon which Tyson and his party were now floating 



HUTS ON THE ICE-FLOE. 



was four miles in circumference, nearly circular, and was full of 

 hillocks and small lakes of fresh water, which had been formed 

 by the melting of ice during the short summer. To feed his 

 eighteen men, women and children, Capt. Tyson had only four- 

 teen cans of pemmican, eleven and a-half bags of bread, one 

 can of dried apples, and fourteen hams. On the following day 

 this large floe broke in two, separating the party from one of 

 their boats and six bags of bread of their original store of pro- 

 visions. They were now on a piece of iee not more than five 



