288 
THE POLAR TIDES. 
taking twenty-eight seconds to reach the bottom, which 
was seen very clearly. 
As they had noticed the night before, the ice-foot 
lost its good character on reaching the cape, becoming 
a mere narrow ledge hugging the cliffs, and looking as 
if it might crumble off altogether into the water at 
any moment. Morton was greatly afraid there would 
be no land-ice there at all when they came hack. 
Hans and he thought they might pass on by climbing 
along the face of the crag; in fact they tried a path 
about fifty feet high, but it grew so narrow that they 
saw they could not get the dogs past with their sledge¬ 
load of provisions. lie therefore thought it safest to 
leave some food, that they might not starve on the 
return in case the ice-foot should disappear. lie ac¬ 
cordingly cached enough provision to last them back, 
with four days’ dog-meat. 
At the pitch of the cape the ice-ledge was hardly 
three feet wide; and they were obliged to unloose the 
dogs and drive them forward alone. Hans and he 
then tilted the sledge up, and succeeded in carrying it 
past the narrowest place. The ice-foot was firm under 
their tread, though it crumbled on the verge. 
The tide was running very first. The pieces of 
heaviest draught floated by nearly as fast as the ordi¬ 
nary walk of a man, and the surface-pieces passed 
them much faster, at least four knots. On their 
examination the night before, the tide was from the 
north, running southward, carrying very little ice. 
The ice which was now moving so fast to northward 
