What with sickness, accident, and other disaster, it became evident that the _Advance_ would never leave her wintering place, and in July Kane set off on a wild endeavour to reach Beechey Island and obtain relief from the Franklin search vessels, but he had to return. Next month Hayes was sent to Upernivik, but he also came back. Finally in May, 1855, the brig was abandoned and the survivors began their journey to the south. Fortunately on the outward voyage Kane, at Fiskernaes, had engaged Hans Hendrik the Greenlander, then a boy of nineteen, who became quite a prominent figure in this and subsequent voyages, and without him and Kalutunah, chief of the Etah Eskimos, the whole party would have perished miserably. Hans first appears when spearing a bird on the wing; Kalutunah's first appearance was equally encouraging. "The leader of the party," says Kane, "was a noble savage, greatly superior in everything to the others of his race. He greeted me with respectful courtesy, yet as one who might rightfully expect an equal measure of it in return, and, after a short interchange of salutations, seated himself in the post of honour at my side. I waited, of course, till the company had fed and slept, for among savages especially haste is indecorous, and then, after distributing a few presents, opened to them my project of a northern exploration. Kalutunah received his knife and needles with a 'Kuyanaka,' 'I thank you'; the first thanks I have heard from a native of this upper region. He called me his friend—'Asakaoteet,' 'I love you well'—and would be happy, he said, to join the nalegak-soak in a hunt." And the journey ended in a hunt, for the dogs caught sight of a large male bear in the act of devouring a seal. The impulse was irresistible; Kane lost all control over both dogs and drivers, who seemed dead to everything but the passion of pursuit. Off they sped with incredible speed; the Eskimos clinging to their sledges and cheering their dogs with loud cries. A mad, wild chase, wilder than German legend—"the dogs, wolves; the drivers, devils." After a furious run, the animal was brought to bay, and the lance and rifle did their work. There were more bears and more hunts, and when Kane objected that this could hardly be called northern exploration, he was told by Kalutunah, significantly, that the bear-meat was absolutely necessary for the support of their families, and that the nalegak-soak had no right to prevent him from providing for his household. "It was a strong argument," says Kane, "and withal the argument of the strong." [Illustration: THE EAST COAST OF SMITH SOUND]