KANE'S EXPEDITION (1854) 27 



as fresh as possible, so as to enter on his farthest north 

 reach in the best possible condition. 



They left the vessel on the 4th of June, and made for the 

 Humboldt Glacier. Here Morton was joined by Hans 

 with the dog-sledge, and the two set out on the 18th June, 

 pursuing a northerly course nearly parallel with the 

 glacier, and from 4 to 7 miles distant from it, according 

 to the condition of the ice. The icebergs given off by the 

 glacier presented great difficulties, but these were finally 

 overcome. On the 21st of June, Kennedy Channel was 

 sighted, and they directed their course towards the cape at 

 the eastern side of the entrance — Cape Andrew Jackson. 

 Here they found open water, and it was with great diffi- 

 culty that the cape was rounded. Still proceeding north, 

 they reached Cape Constitution in latitude 81° 22'. An 

 attempt to pass this cape failed. Morton climbed up the 

 cliff to a height of 500 feet, and could get no farther. As 

 far as he could see not a speck of ice was visible. He 

 stated : " As far as I could discern, the sea was open, a 

 swell coming in from the northward and running crosswise, 

 as if with a small eastern set. The wind was due north — 

 enough of it to make white caps — and the surf broke in 

 on the rocks below in regular breakers. The sky to the 

 north-west was of dark rain-cloud, the first that I had seen 

 since the brig was frozen up. Ivory gulls were nesting in 

 the rocks above me, and out to sea were mollemoke and 

 silver-backed gulls. The ducks had not been seen north 

 of the first island of the channel, but petrel and gulls hung 

 about the waves near the coast." 



Morton was absent on this journey thirty days. The 

 open condition of Kennedy Channel, discovered by him, 

 had a most important bearing on some of the expeditions 

 which followed Kane's. It gave strong support to the 

 theory of an open polar sea, which was believed in by 

 many until the British Expedition of 1875. Dr. Kane 



