KANE AND HAYES. 



367 



first of my party to welcome him back. It was the longest walk and toughest 

 climb that I have had bince our imprisonment, and scurvy and general debility 

 have made me ' short o' wind.' But I managed to attain my object. I saw him 

 once more, and upon a projecting crag nestled in the sunshine. It was like bath- 

 ing in perfumed water." 



Thus this terrible winter night drew to its end, and the time came for un- 

 dertaking the sledge journeys, on which the success of the expedition mainly 

 depended. Unfortunately, of the nine magnificent Newfoundlanders and the 

 thirty-five Esquimaux dogs originally possessed by Kane, only six had survived 

 an epizootic malady which raged among them during the winter : their num- 

 ber was, however, increased by some new purchases from the Esquimaux who 

 visited the ship at the beginning of April. 



Thus scantily provided with the means of transport, Kane, though in a very 

 weak condition, set out on April 25, 1854, to force his way to the north. He 

 found the Greenland coast beyond Rensselaer Bay extremely picturesque, the 

 cliffs rising boldly from the shore-line to a height of sometimes more than a 

 thousand feet, and exhibiting every freak and caprice of architectural ruin. In 

 one spot the sloping rubbish at the foot of the coast-wall led up, like an artifi- 

 cial causeway, to a gorge that was streaming at noonday with the southern sun, 

 while everywhere else the rock stood out in the blackest shadow. Just at the 

 edge of this bright opening rose the dreamy semblance of a castle, flanked with 

 triple towers, completely isolated and defined. These were called the " Three- 

 brother Turrets." 



" Farther on, to the north of latitude 79°, a single cliff of greenstone rears 

 itself from a crumbled base of sandstone, like the boldly-chiselled rampart of an 

 ancient city. At its northern extremity, at the brink of a deep ravine which 

 has worn its way among the ruins, there stands a solitary column or minaret 

 tower, as sharply finished as if it had been cast for the Place Vendome. Yet 

 the length of the shaft alone is 480 feet, and it rises on a pedestal, itself 280 

 feet high. I remember well the emotions of my party, as it first broke upon 

 our view. Cold and sick as I was, I brought back a sketch of it which may 

 have interest for the reader, though it scarcely suggests the imposing dignity 

 of this magnificent landmark. Those who are happily familiar with the writ- 

 ings of Tennyson, and have communed with his spirit in the solitudes of a 

 wilderness, will apprehend the impulse that inscribed the scene with his 

 name." 



But no rock formation, however striking or impressive, equalled in grandeur 

 the magnificent glacier to which Kane has given the name of Humboldt. Its 

 solid glassy wall, diminishing to a well-pointed wedge in the perspective, rises 

 300 feet above the water-level, with an unknown, unfathomable depth below it 

 and its curved face sixty miles in length — from Cape Agassiz to Cape Forbes 

 — vanishes into unknown space at not more than a single day's railroad travel 

 from the pole. 



In spite of the snow, which had so accumulated in drifts that the travellers 

 were forced to unload their sledges and carry forward the cargo on their backs, 

 beating a path for the dogs to follow in, Kane came in sight of the Great Gla- 



