8 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



perienced a great amount of rain, and had sometimes to 

 wade through water from 2 to 5 inches deep upon 

 the ice. It was rarely that they met with a surface 

 sufficiently level and hard to drag all their loads at one 

 journey. Deep soft snow was frequently met with, and 

 proved a difficult obstacle to overcome. At other times 

 their way lay across small loose pieces of ice, and the 

 boats had to be made to serve the purpose of a bridge 

 between the pieces. After a laborious day's work, they 

 frequently found that they had not progressed more than 

 2 miles. It had been calculated that they could travel 

 20 miles per day over level ice. They found the Lapland 

 shoes, or Kamoogas, good for walking in when the snow 

 was dry, but when it was wet they found Esquimaux boots 

 much superior. On the 5th of July they had reached 

 latitude 81° 45' 15", and on sounding with 400 fathoms 

 of line failed to reach the bottom. A like result was 

 met in latitude 82° 17' 10", which was reached on 13th July. 

 About this date they found that they were being drifted 

 considerably to the south — sometimes 1 or 2 miles per 

 day. The glare of the sun was often very oppressive : 

 the best preservative was found to be spectacles having 

 the glass of a bluish-green colour, and with side-screens 

 to them. On the 20th July they reached 82° 36' 52", less 

 than 5 miles to the northward of their position on the 

 17th, although they calculated they certainly had travelled 

 12 miles. On the 25th July, Parry wrote: "So small 

 was the ice now around us, that we were obliged to halt 

 for the night at 2 a.m., being upon the only piece in 

 sight, in any direction, on which we could venture to 

 trust the boats while we rested. Such was the ice in the 

 latitude of 82|° ! " 



At noon on the 26th they found the latitude 82° 40' 23", 

 and calculated that since midnight on the 22nd thev had 

 lost no less than 13i miles by drift. At this time Parry 



