AND WHY IT FAILED. 195 



rendered it utterly unfit for sledge-travelling. 

 Parry's sledges were, further, drawn by seamen 

 instead of dogs, and the pace at which men 

 can drag a heavy sledge is so slow that they 

 cannot convey a sufficiency of fuel and pro- 

 visions for a long journey, and Parry's men 

 were consequently upon short allowance from 

 the commencement of their arduous labours. 



In spite of these tremendous disadvantages, 

 however, the gallant Parry and his crews per- 

 severed for more than a month, and actually 

 attained the latitude of 82° 40', which decidedly 

 entitles them to the well-earned distinction of 

 being the " Champions of the North." On 

 the 27th of July, however, their solar observa- 

 tions gave them the most disheartening proofs 

 that they were only making the sort of progress 

 that a squirrel makes in a cage, or a horse in 

 one of those ingenious saw-mills used at the 

 railway stations in America ; for while, during 

 the last three days, with incredible labour, 

 they had gone about ten miles to the front, the 

 Arctic current had driven the icQ fourteen miles 

 to the rear underneath their feet ! At this 

 rate of travelling it is capable of demonstration 

 that they would have reached the South Pole 

 sooner than the North, and Parry was, there- 



o 2 



