296 
GltEENLANJD VOYAGE. 
fuel and provisions, they made fires in tents con-; 
strutted with their boat-sails and oars on shore, 
whereby they not only derived a comfortable de¬ 
gree of warmth, but likewise the means of dressing 
their food. In this way they soon got their clothes 
partially dried, and themselves a little refreshed. 
On looking out for the ships, in a moment of com¬ 
parative clearness of the atmosphere, they were 
thrown into great consternation to find that they 
were all out of sight, and that a large body of ice had 
interposed between the ships and the shore. They 
immediately repaired to their boats, and proceed¬ 
ing along shore, in a channel fortunately left by 
the grounding of the ice, that was sufficient for 
them, they reached Cape Moorsom, near which the 
ships were moored at the time they entered upon 
their expedition. But as no ship was yet to be seen, 
they stood off the land, threading the interstices 
of the floes, and climbing almost every elevated 
hummock they passed, in the hope of discovering 
the object of their search. But their anxious 
and laborious researches, rendered particularly 
trying by the inclemency of the weather, proved, 
during many hours, entirely discouraging and 
fruitless. The heavy rain that continued inces¬ 
santly falling, had long wetted them to the skin, 
and served greatly to accelerate the depression of 
spirits, that threatened to paralyze their oxer- 
