770 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



her side. Weather still very bad. We are in a bad fix. 3c?. — Repaired our boat 

 and started at 8.45 A. M. Kept under way till 2.30 P. M., when we had to haul 

 up on a piece of floe. We were beset by the ice and could not get through. We 

 take seals whenever we want them, so that it is not necessary to croak any more until 

 they get scarce, bth. — Blowing a gale, and a fearful sea running. Two pieces broke 

 from the floe. We are on one close to the tent. At 5 A. M. removed our things to 

 the center. Another piece broke off", carrying Joe's hut with it. We cannot do any- 

 thing to help ourselves. If the ice breaks up much more we must break up with it 

 8^^. — Last night, at 12 o'clock, the ice broke again right between the tent and the 

 boat, which were so close together that a man could not walk between them. There 

 the ice split carrying away the boat, the kyack, and Mr. Meyer. It was blowing and 

 snowing, very cold, and a fearful sea running ; the ice was breaking, lapping, and 

 crashing. Mr. Meyer cast the kyack adrift, but it went to leeward of us. He can 

 do nothing with the boat alone, and so they are lost to us unless God returns them. 

 The natives went off on a piece of ice with their paddles and ice spears. We may 

 never see them again. But we are lost without the boat, so that they are as well off. 

 After an hour's struggle we can make out, with what little light there is, that they 

 have reached the boat, about half a mile off. There they appear to be helpless ; the 

 ice closing in all around ; and we can do nothing until daylight. Daylight at last, 3 

 A. M. We see them with the boat, but they can do nothing with her. The kyack 

 is the same distance off in another direction. We must venture off, for we may as 

 well be crushed by the ice or drowned as to remain here without the boat. Off we 

 venture for the boat, all but two, who dare not make the attempt. We jump from one 

 piece to another, as the swell heaves it, and the ice comes close together ; one piece 

 being high the other low, so that you watch your time to jump. All who ventured 

 reached the boat in safety, and after a long struggle got her safe to camp again. Then 

 we ventured for the kyack, and got it also. We have taken our tent down, and 

 pitched it in the center of our little piece of ice, with our boat alongside. Joe has 

 built another snow hut alongside the tent. ^th. — Blowing a gale. The sea runs very 

 high, threatening to wash us off any minute. The ice is much slacker, and the water 

 is coming nearer. Things look very bad. God knows how the night will end. Eve- 

 ning. We are washed out of our tent, and Hannah from her snow hut. Have got 

 everything in the boat ready for a start ; but she can never live in such a sea. Land 

 in sight. The women and children are in the boat ; we have not a dry place in which 

 to walk about, nor a piece of fresh-water ice to eat. The ice is closing in fast, and 

 the sea going down. At midnight things look so quiet, and the ice is so closed around 

 that we have pitched our tent, intending to have a sleep, for we are worn out." 



From April 10 to 16 (which completed just six months from the time when they 

 took to the ice) they were prisoners on that bit ; saw many seals, but could catch 

 none, and starvation began to stare them in the face. Mr. Meyer froze his fingers 

 and toes, and began to be very weak, hunger seeming to have more effect on him than 

 on the others. 



April \%th. — Wind increasing; ice nearly the same ; no swell on. My head and 

 face have swollen to nearly twice their usual size. I do not know the cause of it. 

 We set an hour's watch at night. Some one has been at the pemmican on his watch, 

 and I know the man. He did the same thing in the winter, and I caught hkn in the 



