FARTHEST NORTH WITH GREELY 



lash were used without stint to urge his dogs forward. 

 When near Cape May, we crossed a remarkable tidal crack 

 cleaving the otherwise solid floe of embayed ice, and en- 

 deavored to get a sounding, but found no bottom at 835 

 feet. At the place of crossing the crack was about four 

 feet wide, but in many places it was much wider and ex- 

 tended as far as we could see to the northwest in the general 

 direction of Beaumont Island, and to the southeast toward 

 Cape May. 



Owing to the great difficulties experienced near Cape 

 May by Beaumont's sledge party in 1876, in consequence 

 of deep snow, we had not been sanguine of reaching farther 

 north than Cape May, but now we saw Cape Britannia in 

 our grasp and put forth every effort to reach it. 



At 7.30 on the evening of May 4, we reached this cape, 

 and though much exhausted, dragged ourselves up the 

 ice foot to the land. But our enthusiasm soon overcame 

 our fatigue, for we realized that we had reached a point on 

 the coast of Greenland, higher than had ever before been 

 attained, and were at a place where the most northerly 

 land on the globe stretched out before us. Quickly pro- 

 ducing the flag of our country, and lashing it to the up- 

 standers of the sledge, the Arctic breezes saluted the Stars 

 and Stripes. Naturally, we felt an honest pride in our 

 achievement, accomplished not without much hard labor 

 and suffering, but mingled with this pride was a feeling 

 of awe that the unknown always inspires. Beyond us all 

 was new. What was it? Would we succeed in solving 

 its mysteries? These were the thoughts that came upper- 

 most in our minds. 



Just above the ice foot we built a cairn in which we placed 

 rations for our return to Cape Bryant, such of our dead 

 weights as were not deemed absolutely essential, and a 

 record of our journey to that point. Lockwood and myself 

 then ascended the high rocky promontory forming the south- 

 western extremity of Cape Britannia and were about two 

 hours in reaching the summit, where the altitude as indi- 

 cated bv our barometer was about 2000 feet. Here we 

 obtained an extensive view in all directions, repaying us a 

 thousand times for our toilsome ascent. We saw that the 

 trend of the coast was to the northeast, a dark promontory 



60 



