FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY 



Lieutenant Lockwood reached Cape Beechey on the 

 morning of the 5th and that evening, soon after 8 o'clock, 

 both parties left the comfortable snow house and pushed 

 across the hummocky ice packs toward the Boat Camp of 

 the " Polaris " expedition, on the southern shore of New- 

 man Bay. The system of marching at night when the tem- 

 perature was lowest and sleeping during the day was adopted 

 from the start, thereby insuring the greater comfort to the 

 party. 



There was no difficulty in traveling at night; for, after 

 the 9th we had the sun with us constantly night and day, 

 and while we were cheered and stimulated by its warm, 

 bright rays, the powerful reflection from the snow blistered 

 our faces and tortured our eyes. At first goggles with 

 tinted lenses were used as a protection, but later they were 

 discarded because they became a source of annoyance, ow- 

 ing to the necessity of having frequently to remove them, 

 in order to clear away the incrustation of frost which had 

 formed from the moisture of the breath. The most of 

 us were afflicted with snow blindness, and numerous were 

 the schemes to which we resorted to prevent this form of 

 suffering. 



The journey across Robeson Channel was attended with 

 great hardships, for, with few exceptions, the men were 

 not inured to field work under the trying conditions en- 

 countered. The snow was deep and soft, the ice was rough, 

 and the narrow sledges were frequently overturned and 

 buried in the drifts. Thus our progress was slow and 

 laborious and at times almost disheartening. To add to 

 our discomfort, snow storms prevailed most of the time, 

 and for two days a violent gale stopped our advance and 

 confined us closely to our tents pitched on the ice. Several 

 cases of frost bite occurred, but fortunately they were not 

 serious. We learned from experience that the only safe 

 method of treating superficial frost bite was to apply the 

 warm hand briskly to the affected part, until the frost was 

 removed. Elison, however, rejected the approved method, 

 and by adhering to the old idea of using snow, lost every 

 vestige of skin from his somewhat prominent nose. 



Our first camp after leaving Cape Beechey was made 

 under rather unhappy circumstances. The regulated scale 



61 



