Demoine courier., 1855-10-25

eas,erly direction, reaching latitude 80,
and a, last found a glazier which formed
The shore line OF Greenland 10 the North;
The party travelled a long this elazier for
abou, fifty miles; the desolation oil this
latitude canuo, be described with the pen;
This party having made their feposi, re-
turned to the ship about The middle Of
October, when other parties were sent
out for the purpose Of exploring the
coast. The mercury at his time was
40 degrees below zero and constantly
frozen. The cold aud darkness were
increasing. which pu, an end 10 our send
ing on. our exploring parties. We lost
the sun entir,ly in the middle Of Oc,o.
Der. We were now certainly in a Grea'
ny situation. The sun we knew would
not return till The 24lh of February, I'LL
which time we had total darkness. We
had coal fires all this time, and on board
ship gained a comfortable temperature.
Nothing Of moment now occurred till
March set in again, excepting all our
dogs died butlhree or four. from a spasm
peculiar 10 the climate. The loss Of our
dogs was severely felt. for upon these
faithful animals we were TO depend To
Draw Our sledges.
| In March we again had tw I've hours
daylight, and in this month we again
started out another exploring party To
the North, but from the heavy, rough ice,
they were no, able TO proceed over forty
miles from the vessel, when the parry
returned again TO the vessel. This was
March, 1854. On this expedition some
Of the party we're fros, bitten. and W
So severely that they after warGs died.
One was named Peter Shuber:, the cook.
and the other Baker. Two others Of
The party had their loes cut of. II was
in this expedition, and when thirty miles
from The vessel, myself and two others
the only ones Of the party who could
walk-reiurned on foot across the ice to
the vessel 10 report The condition Of the
party 10 DR.. Kane. DR.. Kane, with q
strong party, Immediately Sc. out for the
relief Of The sufferers. bn, did not sue
coed in giving succor ill after The party
had gone through suffering the most pc
rllous and intense.
The next exploring party from the
ship wa in April, and headed bv DIR.
Kane in person. 1t consisted Of two
sledges-one drawn by dogs and the
other by men. This party was out on
ly cigh. days when DR.. Kane was taken
i'll with fever, and found il necessary to
return I'd the vessel. la May another
exploring party was formed under The
command o! DR.. Hayes, who succeeded
in ciossing 10 The westerly side Of Smith
Channel, a distance Of eighty miles from
the ship. This party suffered greatly
from snow blindness. The party rum
lug shor, of provisions here was obliged
to return TO the ship, which they reach
ed after an absence Of twelve days, and
ha wing in this lime travelled three hund
red and fifty miles. With The dogs, the
explorer can travel ffty miles Jay
DR.. Hayes, on his return from ,his ex.
pedilion, travelled at this speed, his dog
team being fed on nothing more than an
old boot for breakfast, and par, OF a pair
Of Esquimaux pants for dinner.
Directly after the return OF DR.. Hayes.
during the month of Jane, another explor
ing party was fitted out under command
OF Bonsel aud McGeary. The ohjec,
of all these parties was 10 ascertain some
traces OF Sir Joha Franklin if possible.
This party took a north eastern direc-
lion 10 the western shore of Baifin's Bay
A branch party from this, accompanied
by an Esquimaux driver, continued the
search about The eastern coast, finding
Smith Sound terminating in a large bay.
A, the bottom of this bay was the g.azler
of the shore already mentioned. From
this point a new channel was discovered
extending due north. The party travel
ed up this channel along the coast until
they were brought up by open waler.-
This open space was entirely free from
ice, and Astounding in animal life, such
as fou!, fish, walrus. and seal. A north.
erly gale listing two days, brought nu
ice down, proving that a large open sea
was beyond; but whether this was the
grea, Polar Sea or not is questionable
IL is the opinion Of DR.. Kane that this
was the open Polar Sea. ,ha, is never
frozen over. This party made a char,
Of the coast as far north as latitude 81 30
line most northern point Of land ye'
disco vered. In July this party returned,
and this closed the operations Of the year
1854.
Soon after this it became apparent to
our whole party that the ship could not
Re liberated form The ice. We all TEL
tina. we were doomed 10 spend the win.
ter in this latitude, unless relief came
from Sir Edward Belcher. with whom
DR.. Kane tried TO communicate in per
son. Sir Edward was al Beechy Island,
which lay 700 miles TO The South and
West. The attempt to reach Sir Ed
ward was iruitlese. DR.. Kane, in the
attempt to reach him, crossed Smith
Sound, with a crew of five men, in a
wh,leboat. aud reached Jones Sound
where they me. the heavy pack ice oil
Jones, Lancaster. Whale and Smith
Sounds, forming together an i~mpene,ra-
BILE pack OF ice, ranging from FIVE TO lhir
~ feet in thickness. They skif.ed this
pack TO the Eastward, making repeated
- p. - - 80 -. -