original plans as would accommodate them to these untoward circumstances
at the outset. The boats forming the main impediment, not so much on
account of their absolute weight as from the difficulty of managing so
large a body upon a road of this nature, I made preparations for the
possible contingency of our having to take only one, continuing the same
number of men in our whole party. All that I saw reason to apprehend
from having only a single boat on our outward journey, was some
occasional delay in ferrying over spaces of water in two trips instead
of one; but we considered that this would be much more than compensated
by the increased rate at which we should go whenever we were upon the
ice, as we expected to be nine days out of ten. The principal
disadvantage, therefore, consisted in our not all being able to sleep in
the boat, and this we proposed to obviate in the following manner.

We constructed out of the Lapland snow-shoes fourteen sledges, each
sledge consisting of two pairs well fastened together. Upon these we
proposed dragging almost all the weight, so as to keep the boat nearly
without any cargo in her, as we found by experiment that a man could
drag about three hundred pounds on one of the sledges with more facility
than he could drag the boat when his proportion did not exceed one
hundred pounds. Upon these sledges we proposed lodging half our party
alternately each night, placing them under the lee of the boat, and then
stretching over them, as a sloped roof, a second awning, which we fitted
for the purpose. Upon this plan we likewise could afford to make our
boat considerably stronger, adding some stout iron knees to the supports
of her runners, and increasing our store of materials for repairing her.
The weight reduced by this arrangement would have been above two
thousand pounds, without taking away any article conducive to our
comfort, except the boat and her gear. I proposed to the officers and
men who had been selected to accompany me this change in our equipment;
and I need scarcely say that they all clearly saw the probable necessity
of it, and cheerfully acquiesced in its adoption, if requisite.

On the 29th I sent Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, with the greater part
of the ship's company, and with a third or spare travelling-boat, to
endeavour to land her on Red Beach, together with a quantity of stores,
including provisions, as a deposite for us on our return from the
northward, should i