APPENDIX NO. II. 
315 
through, several of the party narrowly escaped being carried under by 
the tides. In the effort to liberate our sledges from the broken ice after 
one of these accidents, Acting Carpenter Ohlsen received an internal 
injury. Paralysis of the bladder was rapidly followed by tetanic symp¬ 
toms, and he died on the 12th of June, three days after his attack, 
lie has left behind him a young wife, who depended entirely upon him 
for support. He was buried upon Littleton Island, opposite a cape 
which bears his name. 
Prom this stage of our journey up to the time of reaching the first 
open water, which was near Cape Alexander, we were comforted by 
the friendly assistance of the Esquimaux of Etah. These people 
faithfully adhered to the alliance which we had established during the 
winter. They brought us daily supplies of birds, helped us to carry 
our provisions -and stores, and in their daily intercourse with us 
exhibited the kindest feeling and most rigid honesty. "When we 
remembered that they had been so assuming and aggressive upon 
our first arrival that I was forced to seize their wives as hostages for 
the protection of our property, their present demeanor was not without 
its lesson. Once convinced of our superiority of power, and assured 
of our disposition to unite our resources with theirs for mutual pro¬ 
tection and support, they had relied upon us implicitly, aud strove 
now to requite their obligations toward us by ministering to our 
wants. 
We left them on the ,18th of June, at the margin of the floe. In 
thirty-one days we had walked three hundred and sixteen miles, and 
had transported our boats over cighty-ono miles of unbroken ice. The 
men, women, and children of the little settlement had also travelled 
over the ice to bid us good-bye, and we did not part from them without 
emotion. 
The passage between this point and one ten miles northwest of 
Hakluyt Island was in open water. It was the only open water seen 
north of Cape York, in latitude 75° 59' N. We ran this under sail in 
a single day, hauling upon the ice to sleep. This ice was a closed pack, 
hanging around the north and south channels of Murchison Sound, and 
seemingly continued to the westward. The land-ices were still un¬ 
broken, and wo were obliged to continue our journey by alternate 
movements over ice and water. So protracted and arduous were these, 
that between the 20th of June and the 6th of July we had advanced 
but one hundred miles. 
Our average progress was about eight miles a day, stopping for our 
hunting-parties and for sleep. Great care was taken not to infringe 
