RETURN OF SPRING. 
163 
The month of March brought back to us the per¬ 
petual day. The sunshine had reached our deck on the 
last day of February: we needed it to cheer us. We 
were not as pale as my experience in Lancaster Sound 
had foretold; but the scurvy-spots that mottled our 
faces gave sore proof of the trials we had undergone. 
It was plain that we were all of us unfit for arduous 
travel on foot at the intense temperatures of the nomi¬ 
nal spring; and the return of the sun, by increasing the 
evaporation from the floes, threatened us with a recur¬ 
rence of still severer weather. 
But I felt that our work was unfinished. The great 
object of the expedition challenged us to a more north¬ 
ward exploration. My dogs, that I had counted on so 
largely, the nine splendid Newfoundlanders and thirty- 
five Esquimaux of six months before, had perished; 
there were only six survivors of the whole pack, and 
one of these was unfit for draught. Still, they formed 
my principal reliance, and I busied myself from the 
very beginning of the month in training them to run 
together. The carpenter was set to work upon a 
small sledge, on an improved model, and adapted to 
the reduced force of our team; and, as we had ex¬ 
hausted our stock of small cord to lash its parts 
together, Mr. Brooks rigged up a miniature rope-walk, 
and was preparing a new supply from part of the 
material of our deep-sea lines. The operations of 
shipboard, however, went on regularly; Hans and 
occasionally Petersen going out on the hunt, though 
rarely returning successful. 
