A Birth. 197 



leaving nineteen hands on the floe, men, women 

 and children, with the boats and provisions. The 

 weather was very thick and the ship was leaking 

 badly, so she was run on shore near Lyttelton 

 Island, just inside Smith Sound. Dr. Bessels at- 

 tributes the wonderful set of the ice experienced by 

 those who were left on the floe, as well as the drift 

 of the " Resolute," " Fox," and the vessels under 

 De Haven in 1851, entirely to the wind and not to 

 the current. Out of the nineteen souls thus 

 separated from their ships, nine were Esquimaux 

 (two men, two women, and five children), and the 

 remainder were Germans and Americans. Mrs. 

 Hans, the wife of the Esquimaux who was with both 

 Kane and Hayes, was safely delivered of a. son in 

 82° N. The little fellow has, in all probability, 

 the most northern birthplace of any human being 

 living . 



Daring the second winter, near Lyttelton Island, 

 the remaining crew of the "Polaris" received much 

 willing assistance from the Esquimaux of the Etah 

 settlement. Dr. Bessels visited Port Foulke, the 

 winter quarters of Hayes in 1860-61, and on ex- 

 amining the grave of Mr. Sontag, the astronomer 

 of that expedition, he found that the Esquimaux 

 had dug up the remains for the sake of possessing 

 themselves of the wood of the coffin. The bones 

 were scattered in all directions. These he col- 

 lected and re-buried. On inquiring for the stores 



