ation to pursue his explorations. Two weeks longer the
brig was warped to the east during high water, whenever she was not
jammed by huge floes against the rugged coast; but at low water the
brig grounded and was daily in danger of total destruction. Finally,
on September 9th, she was put in winter-quarters in 78 deg. 37' N., 71 deg.
14' W., in Rensselaer Harbor, which, says Kane, "we were fated never
to leave together--a long resting-place to her, for the same ice is
round her still." Winter now advanced with startling rapidity and
excessive severity; freezing temperatures now permanently obtained,
the water-fowl were gone, and the scanty vegetation blighted. All
were busy, some constructing a building for magnetic and
meteorological observations, others making journeys along the
eastern coast. Kane visited the high land adjoining Mary Minturn
River, some fifty miles away, whence he could see Washington Land in
the vicinity of Cape Constitution. Hayes and Wilson journeyed on the
inland ice, while McGary with six others made three caches on the
coast, the farthest being under the face of the largest of all
Arctic glaciers, now known by the name of Humboldt. The winter
proved to be unusually cold, the temperature, from December to March
inclusive, averaging fifty-four degrees below the freezing-point of
water. Most fortunately the men remained in health, but Kane grieved
over the loss of his dogs, only a dozen surviving out of the
original eighty.

In this contingency Kane decided to put his men in the field, and
after two weeks of excessive cold, the temperature averaging
seventy-seven degrees below freezing, a party was sent out while the
mercury was yet frozen. Their orders were to reach Washington Land,
about one hundred miles distant across the sea-ice. It soon became
evident to Brooks, the commander of the party, that the journey was
impossible of execution, and after eight marches, in which less than
forty miles were traversed, he turned back on March 29, 1854. The
cold that day was intense, about ninety degrees below freezing, and
the next morning four men were frozen so badly that they could not
walk. Only four men were left for work. The distance to the brig was
thirty miles, while the intervening ice was so rough that they could
not drag their disabled comrades. Hickey volunteered to remain,
while Sontag, Ohlsen, and Petersen should go to the brig for help.
The three men finally reached the Advance, but they