THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 757 



still more seriously affected, with a debility that left him almost 

 helpless, yet so great was his pluck and self-denial, that he 

 insisted on walking, to relieve the hospital sled, though he could 

 scarcely take a score of steps without falling from sheer weakness. 

 "When the entire party was almost exhausted from their hard 

 journey and exposure, from lying in wet blankets, as the ice sur- 

 face was constantly covered with shallow water, caused by slow 

 melting under the sun's rays, their low spirits were suddenly 

 revived on July 29th, by the discovery of land in latitude 7G 38' 

 17" N., long. 148 20' E. After great exertion this land was 

 reached, and found to be an island of considerable size and pos- 

 sessing many valuable products, among which were bituminous 

 coal in great abundance, several different kinds of succulent 

 grasses, beautiful amethysts, hematite, from which brown metallic 

 paint is made, and myriads of birds, such as dovekies, and murres, 

 which nest there. Among the singular discoveries made on the 

 island were quantities of drift-wood, pieces of which were par- 

 tially burned, while others showed axe-marks ; there were also 

 flowers of different varieties, and a live butterfly was found that 

 had the appearance of belonging to the tropics. This strange 

 piece of land was taken possession of in the name of the United 

 States, and named Bennett Island, in honor of the patron of the 

 expedition. 



LAUNCHED ON THE SEA. 



DfiLoNG remained on Bennett Island until August 7th, when 

 open water was discovered southward, which, with the beautiful 

 weather they were then having, prompted him to abandon the 

 island and take to the sea in the boats. Accordingly, the three 

 boats were launched, and manned as follows : 



First Cutter. DeLong, Ambler, Collins, Nindemann,Ericksen, 

 Kaack, Boyd, Alexey, Lee, Noros, Dressier, Gortz, Iversen. 



Second Cutter. Chipp,Dunbar, Sweetman, Sharvell,Keuhue, 

 Starr, Manson, Warren, Johnson, Ah Sam (Chinaman). 



Whale-boat. Melville, Danenhower, Newcomb,Cole, Bartlett, 

 Aneguin, Wilson, Lauterbach, Tong Sing, Leach. 



The provisions were equally distributed among the three boats, 



