Reaching the cliffs to the west, they found the descent exceedingly precipitous and rugged. No other passage offered than that through a gorge which was filled with ice and hard snow, whose surface was almost perpendicular. As this was the only passage, they went into camp to devise ways and means. Next morning, Lockwood attached all the ropes he had, including dog-traces, to the sledge, and while he rode to guide caused the others to ease down the sledge. Unfortunately, the rope was too short, and those at the top let go. Gravity carried the sledge and rider down the foot of the slope, now somewhat reduced, with fearful rapidity, till they brought up against rocks covered with snow, fortunately without serious damage. The other men and dogs got down as best they could, the former digging footholds as they progressed. Further descending the cañon, they came to another glacier stretching entirely across their way, and, as it seemed impossible to surmount it or the walls on either side, they came to a halt and enjoyed a night of rest. The next day they pushed on, though troubled with snow-blindness, and, overcoming the obstacle of the previous day, crossed a lake and encamped on its farther end. On the following day, after passing through a gorge, the outlet of the lake, between high cliffs, they were surprised to see a number of floebergs similar in every respect to the floebergs of the east Grinnell coast. At the same time they found the water to be _salt_, and saw the fresh tracks of a bear. These facts convinced Lockwood that they were near the western sea, probably at the head of a fiord. This soon became still more apparent. Here they also saw another glacier coming in some miles west of the last. They crossed a crack of open water, formed by the tide, and found themselves on well-recognized floe-ice, quite level but covered in places with deep snow. Ahead of them, twenty miles distant, on the opposite side of the fiord, was a bold headland, and toward this they now directed their course. This fiord, which Lockwood named after Lieutenant Greely, separated at its head into two bays. These he called, after Greely’s daughters, Adola and Antoinette. The latter bay they were now crossing, while they bore away to the north. It had become very foggy, and was snowing and blowing hard. When some miles out they crossed other bear-tracks, and finally reached the cape for which they had been striving. Here the south shore of the fiord bent off toward the west-southwest being very wide and walled in on all sides by steep cliffs broken in a few places by branch fiords or bays. They encamped at the cape on the 13th, had supper, and soon turned in to sleep and fast as long as possible, or until the storm abated, as the party was now reduced to what they called a starvation allowance. There was nothing to do but to make observations when the sun appeared.