IN SIGHT OF LAND 
199 
across we went on for some time without trouble 
with open water but presently found ourselves 
among heavy raftered ice, with high pinnacles and 
in between them masses of snow, deep and not very 
hard. We had to use the pickaxe a good deal and 
the dogs had hard going. Three of them were get¬ 
ting to be very sick. 
Towards the end of the day we could see the 
land distinctly, about forty miles away. When 
we built our igloo at dark we had made at least ten 
miles to the good, though our actual march had 
been longer than that. The Eskimo appeared very 
much depressed. I was naturally feeling cheer¬ 
ful myself because in two or three days we should 
be on land. Furthermore I believed most of our 
troubles with open leads would soon be over, as we 
approached nearer the shore ice, though the going 
would probably be rough from the pressure of the 
running-ice on the still ice, just as we had found 
it in getting away from Wrangell Island. 
During the latter part of our day’s journey I 
fell and hurt my side. My eyes troubled me more 
than ever, because I broke the glass in my goggles 
and, though I had another pair, I did not find that 
they suited me as well as those to which I had be¬ 
come accustomed. Kataktovick, too, wore goggles. 
On April 1 we made a good day’s march. The 
going was rather rough, but we were fortunate 
