224 ^^'^' ARCTIC JOURNAL 



had been carried by the members of my party and helping 

 natives to the crest of the bkiffs at the head of the bay — to 

 the edge of the true inland ice, some miles distant, and then 

 in dragging them over and among the succession of the great 

 domes of ice which extend inward some fifteen miles to the 

 gradual slope of the vast interior snow-plain. One or two 

 snow-storms and the constant violent wind rushing down from 

 the interior to the shore, combined with the difficulties of the 

 road and the constant annoyance from our team of twenty 

 savage and powerful Eskimo dogs, entirely unaccustomed to 

 us and to our methods, made these two weeks a time of un- 

 remitting and arduous labor for myself. The only pleasant 

 break in this work was the occurrence of my own birthday, 

 and the unexpected appearance from among the medical 

 stores, in charge of Dr. Cook, of a little box from the hands 

 of the dear one left behind, containing a bottle of Chateau 

 Yquem, a wine endeared to both of us by many delightful 

 associations, a cake, and a note containing birthday wishes for 

 success and continued health. Once on the true ice-cap. two 

 good marches brought us to the divide, from which, as from 

 the ridge of a great white-roofed house, the ice-cap slopes 

 north to the shores of Kane Basin and historic Renssellaer 

 Harbor, where Kane and his little party passed so many Arc- 

 tic months, and southward to the shores of Whale Sound and 

 our own little home. From this divide we had a slight de- 

 scent in our favor, and we kept on from the edge of the basin 

 of the Humboldt Glacier, where the great mass of the inland 



