A HAZAKDOUS VOYAGE. 



565 



days. The ice appeared so rugged that the reindeer promised 

 to be of little assistance, and were consequently left behind. 

 The following is an abridged account of the extraordinary 

 method of travelling adopted upon this singular voyage : 



"It was my intention," says Parry, "to travel by night and 

 rest by day, thus avoiding the glare resulting from the sun 

 shining from his highest altitudes upon the snow ; and pro- 

 ceeding during the milder light shed during his vicinity to the 

 horizon, — for of course, during the summer, he never set at all. 

 This practice so completely inverted the natural order of things 

 that the officers, though possessing chronometers, did not know 

 night from day. When we rose in the evening, we commenced 

 our day by prayers; after which we took off our raccoon-skin 

 sleeping-dresses, and put on our box-cloth travelling-suits. We 

 breakfasted upon warm cocoa heated with spirits of wine — our 

 only fuel — and biscuit : we then travelled five hours, and stopped 

 to dine, and again travelled four, five, or six hours, according 

 to circumstances. It then being early in the morning, we 

 halted for the night, selecting the largest surface of ice we 

 happened to be near for hauling the boat on. Every man then 

 put on dry stockings and fur boots, leaving the wet ones — which, 

 were rarely found dry in the morning — to be resumed after 

 their slumbers. After supper the officers and men smoked: 

 their pipes, which served to dry the boat and awnings, and* 

 often raised the temperature ten degrees. A watch was set to 

 look out for bears, each man alternately doing this duty for one' 

 hour. It now being bright day, the evening was ushered in 

 with prayers. After seven hours' sleep, the man appointed to> 

 boil the cocoa blew a reveille' upon the bugle, and thus at night- 

 fall the day was recommenced." 



The difficulty of travelling was much greater than had been 

 anticipated. The ice, instead of being solid, was composed of 

 small, loose, and rugged masses, with pools of water between 

 them. In their first eight days they made but eight miles' 



