July 24. 1884.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



SOB 



furnished, and this meant, in all probability, ultimate 

 starvation. Lieut. Greely upon hearing their report an- 

 nounced that the party must abandon Esquimau Point, as he 

 .had named it, and transfer the camp to a place nearer the 

 base of suppl ies. 



A start was made on the next day, when one load of pro- 

 visions was advanced as far as Rosse Bay, and on the 11th 

 the remainder. They then traveled along a strait discovered 

 by Rice, and named after him, which connects Rosse Bay 

 with Buchanan Straits, placing Cape Sabine on an island in- 

 stead of the mainland, as was formerly supposed. Rice and 

 Jens having gone to Cape Isabella to ascertain whether any 

 supplies had been lef L there last year, found only the 144 

 pounds of meat left there by the English in 1875. " 



The people had been on reduced rations since September 

 35, when the allowance of meat was made twelve ounces, 

 and at Eskimo Point one-half that quantity. On the evening 

 of October 15, they reached the Proteus wreck cache, with 

 all their provisions except one load, which had been cached 

 at Cocked Hat Island, and set to work on winter quarters. 



III. — CAMP CLAY AT CAPE SABINE. 



A. hut was built of stones, roofed over with the whaleboat 

 from the Beebe cache, the oars serving as rafters and covered 

 with canvas, the sides being banked up with snow. Of 

 course, there were no means: of heating it, as barely fuel 

 enough was left to warm the food. It was never cooked. 

 On the ground canvas was spread and over this buffalo over- 

 coats, on the top of which the sleeping bags were placed, 

 and yet these were generally frozen "stiff throughout the 

 winter. The boat left by Beebe was in good condition, 

 except for a hole about ten by six inches, made probablv by 

 the paw of a bear. As soon as the state of the ice permitted 

 the stores from the different caches were collected at Camp 

 Clay. These may be summed up as follows: viz., Beebe 

 cache and English cache 240 rations each. In the latter con- 

 siderable tea, sugar, chocolate, bread and dog biscuit unfit 

 for use. The rum and alcohol were missing. Garlington 

 cache, 500 pounds of bread, ninety of pemmican and a few 

 cans each of roast mutton, peas, string beans, green corn and 

 two boxes of lemons. These last were in excellent condi- 

 tion and proved a rare treat in more respects than one. 



On the 2d of November a party was sent to Cape Isabella 

 to secure the meat which had been found there. It was 

 composed of Rice, Linn, Elison and Fredericks, with the 

 small sled and several days' provisions. On the 9th, about 

 midnight, Rice returned and reported the party at the head 

 of Rosse Bay suffering severely with cold and Elison dying 

 with frost bites. Relief was at once sent, and about noon of 

 the 12th Brainard reached them in a severe gale with food 

 and medicine, and found Elison badly frozen and delirious. 

 Fredericks and Linn were in the sleeping bag with him try- 

 ing to keep him warm, and the three were literally frozen in 

 the bag, and had to be cut out. They would undoubtedly 

 have perished but for Brainard 's timely arrival, as the tem- 

 perature was minus 30° Fahrenheit, and they were without 

 a tent. With the assistance of a party under Lieut. Lock- 

 wood, which had also come to the rescue, they were gotten 

 to Camp Clay, Elison having both hands and feet frozen 

 stiff, so that he never used them again. They had been com- 

 pelled to abandon the meat at Baird Inlet, with eveiything 

 not absolutely necessary to save life. 



During the latter part of October, Long, with the two 

 natives, was stationed at the junction of Rice and Buchanan 

 straits for the purpose of hunting, and suffered greatly with 

 cold and hunger. They had onlv a tent to live in and were 

 on reduced rations. They returned about November 8, 

 badly frost bitten, having killed only three seals. From 

 November 1 the command was placed on further reduced 

 rations, which had been accurately estimated to last until 

 March 1, with a reserve of ten days' full rations for the trip 

 to Littleton Island when the sound should freeze over. This 

 reduced ration was composed as follows: Meat and blubber, 

 four and one-third ounces; bread and dog biscuit, six and 

 one half; canned vegetables and *ice, one and two-fifths ; 

 butter and lard, three-quarters; soups and beef extracts, nine- 

 tenths; cloud berries, pickles, raisins and miik, one ounce; 

 making a total of 14-,-^ ounces per day. About this time 

 the whaleboat Narwhal, which had been left, on the floe, 

 drifted down near Cape Sabine and was wedged in the ice 

 between Brevoort Island and the main laud. She was 

 secured and used during the winter for fuel. After the mid- 

 dle of November hunting became impossible on account of 

 the darkness and cold, besides being useless, as there was no 



game to be had, so they waited patiently for the closing of 

 the sound by ice, but waited in vain. 



Throughout the entire winter open water separated them 

 from Littleton Island, where there was an additional cache 

 of provisions which, though not large, would h ive been suf- 

 ficient, with economy, to pull the entire party through, and 

 near at hand were natives on whom they might have relied 

 for assistance, as did Kane and Hayes. Every effort was 

 made to preserve cheerfulness in that little band, so neces- 

 sary to its very existence. Conversations were kept up on 

 all sorts of subjects, however frivolous, and they talked when 

 they felt least like it, because they deemed it their duty. 

 The few books that they had were read and re-read by the 

 dim light of a blubber lamp with moss wicking, and a statis- 

 tical almanac was a perfect mine of wealth. The survivors 

 speak in the warmest terms of Greely's powers of con- 

 versation and the gallant efforts which he made to keep up 

 the spiritsof his little band. Notwithstanding their desti- 

 tute condition, Thanksgiving and Christmas days were ob- 

 served as usual. For more than a month they saved from 

 their scanty rations in order that they might have, at least 

 by contrast, a good dinner on those days. It consisted prin- 

 cipally of rice pudding, with a glass of rum punch to wash 

 it down. March 13, 1884, Long was sent with Frederick and 

 Jens to Alexandra Harbor to look for game, the English ex- 

 pedition of 1875 having reported abundant traces in that 

 quarter. They returned exhausted, however, after an ab- 

 sence of three or four days and empty-handed. Long, how- 

 ever, had made the important discovery of new land in 

 Hazen Sound, having seen from the western side of Mount 

 Carri three capes beyond the furthest reported by the Nares 

 expedition. 



The life at Camp Clay during that terrible winter and 

 spring is simply indescribable. Rice discovered salt shrimps, 

 with which they eked out their suppers, but they contained 

 very little nutriment, and the labor of catching them may 

 be imagined when it is known that it required 1,300 to fill a 

 gill measure. This fishing was done by hauling bags or nets 

 from the ice with bare hands and with the temperature 20 

 below zero. The suffering entailed was tremendous. 

 Lichens gathered from the rocks, saxifrage and boiled seal- 

 skin were also eaten. Twenty-four foxes, weighing about 



