KANE'S EXPEDITION (1854) 31 



much as possible my weight, and placed the nape of my 

 neck against the rim or edge of the ice ; then with caution 

 slowly bent my leg, and, placing the ball of my moccasined 

 foot against the sledge, I pressed steadily against the 

 runner, listening to the half-yielding crunch of the ice 

 beneath. 



" Presently I felt that my head was pillowed by the ice, 

 and that my wet fur jumper was sliding up the sur- 

 face. Next came my shoulders ; they were fairly on. One 

 more decided push, and I was launched up on the ice, and 

 safe. v ' 



On 5th October the stock of fresh meat consisted of 

 one rabbit and three ducks. On the 7th they were 

 fortunate in killing a bear. 



Darkness was now creeping in on them, and some 

 remarks of Kane on the Arctic night are well worth 

 quoting : " The intense beauty of the Arctic firmament 

 can hardly be imagined. It looked close above our heads, 

 with its stars magnified in glory, and the very planets 

 twinklino- so much as to baffle the observations of our 

 astronomer. I am afraid to speak of some of these night- 

 scenes. I have trodden the deck and the floes, when the 

 life of earth seemed suspended, its movements, its sounds, 

 its colouring, its companionships ; and as I looked on the 

 radiant hemisphere, circling above me as if rendering 

 worship to the unseen Centre of light, I have ejaculated 

 in humility of spirit, ' Lord, what is man that Thou art 

 mindful of him ? ' And then I have thought of the 

 kindly world we had left, with its revolving sunshine and 

 shadow; and the other stars that gladden it in their 

 changes, and the hearts that warmed to us there ; till I 

 lost myself in memories of those who are not ; — and they 

 bore me back to the stars again.' 1 



By the beginning of December, scurvy was making sad 

 inroads among the party. On the 2nd, Dr. Kane wrote : 



