M. with our two boats, which
we named the Enterprise and Endeavour, Mr. Beverly being attached to my
own, and Lieutenant Ross, accompanied by Mr. Bird, in the other. Besides
these, I took Lieutenant Crozier in one of the ship's cutters, for the
purpose of carrying some of our weight as far as Walden Island, and also
a third store of provisions to be deposited on Low Island, as an
intermediate station between Walden Island and the ship. As it was still
necessary not to delay our return beyond the end of August, the time
originally intended, I took, with me only seventy-one days provisions;
which, including the boats and every other article, made up a weight of
268 lbs. per man; and as it appeared highly improbable, from what we had
seen of the very rugged nature of the ice we should first have to
encounter, that either the reindeer, the snow-shoes, or the wheels would
prove of any service for some time to come, I gave up the idea of taking
them. We, however, constructed out of the snow-shoes four excellent
sledges for dragging a part of our baggage over the ice; and these
proved of invaluable service to us, while the rest of the things just
mentioned would only have been an encumbrance.
Having received the usual salutation of three cheers from those we left
behind, we paddled through a quantity of loose ice at the entrance of
the bay, and then steered, in a perfectly open sea, and with calm and
beautiful weather, for the western part of Low Island, which we reached
at half past two on the morning of the 22d.
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