66 THE SIEGE OF THE NORTH POLE 



On the 27th April he determined to send back the 

 men, with the exception of Knorr, Jensen, and McDonald. 

 Only about half of the Sound had been crossed, but 

 Hayes decided to struggle on. Jensen became partially 

 snow-blind, and on the 3rd of May, when stumbling along, 

 his leg received a severe wrench in a crack in the ice. The 

 land, at Cape Hawks, was not reached until the 11th of 

 May. Thirty-one days had been occupied in crossing 

 the Sound. Hayes writes : — 



"The journey across the Sound from Cairn Point was 

 unexampled in Arctic travelling. The distance from 

 land to land, as the crow flies, did not exceed 80 miles ; 

 and yet, as hitherto observed, the journey consumed 

 thirty-one days — but little more than 2 miles daily. The 

 track, however, which we Avere forced to choose, was 

 often at least three times that of a straight line ; and 

 since almost every mile of that tortuous route was 

 travelled over three and five times, in bringing up the 

 separate portions of our cargo, our actual distance did 

 not probably average less than 16 miles daily, or about 

 500 miles in all, between Cairn Point and Cape Hawks. 

 The last 40 miles, made with dog-sledges alone, occupied 

 fourteen days — a circumstance which will of itself exhibit 

 the difficult nature of the undertaking, especially when 

 it is borne in mind that 40 miles to an ordinary team 

 of dogs, over usually fair ice, is a trifling matter for five 

 hours, and would not fatigue the team half so much as 

 a single hour's pulling of the same load over such 

 hummocks as confronted us throughout this entire journey. 



" In order to obtain the best results which the 

 Esquimaux dog is capable of yielding, it is essential 

 that he shall be able to trot away with his load. To 

 walk at a dead drag is as distressing to his spirits and 

 energies as the hauling of a dray would be to a blooded 

 horse ; and he will much more readily run away with a 



