1876 BEAUMONT'S RETURN JOURNEY. 103 



could not reach Mount Hooker, and I came to tl^e 

 conclusion it would be useless to advance any farther 

 with the sledge, as turn which way we would, there 

 was the same smooth, treacherous expanse of snow, 

 and only two days' provisions, which would not have 

 enabled us to reach any part of the shore ; so I went 

 back to the tent after nine and-a-half hours' hard 

 march, and found two men, J. Craig and Wm. Jenkins, 

 unmistakably scurvy-stricken. 



'I therefore decided to wait where we w T ere, if 

 necessary, for two days, in hopes of being able to 

 ascend a high peak just over the glacier, and from 

 that elevation decide the question of the channel past 

 Cape Buttress, as well as obtain a view of the distant 

 islands. It seemed too cruel to have to turn back 

 after such hard work, without reaching the land or 

 seeing anything, and I was pleased and encouraged by 

 the anxiety the men showed to make the end of our 

 expedition more successful. But it was not to be. 

 May 21st it snowed hard all day ; May 22nd the 

 same ; and a strict survey of the provisions warned us 

 that we must start homewards. 



' We left on the evening of the 22nd, a mournful 

 and disappointed party (for the feeling was shared by 

 all), with two men walking by the drag ropes, and 

 none of the others, Alexander Gray and myself ex- 

 cepted, any the better for their long rest. We found, 

 much to our relief, that keeping to our old tracks 

 enabled us to do three times the distance, as we had 

 not to break the road nor lift our legs. I halted at 

 Beef Island, and left a record in a cairn on its north 

 end, according to my instructions, but reserved the 



