The success of this latest Arctic journey has been attributed to small, as well as to greater causes. The advantages of summer exploration were manifest. The Esquimaux of the party gave invaluable aid, building snow-huts with the skill to which none but natives attain, coating the sledge-runners with ice according to a method which only natives understand, and by their good offices enabling the expedition to hold communication and have dealings with the wild tribes with whom they came in contact. The dogs were chosen with the utmost circumspection, and justified this care by their wonderful endurance. Game was abundant. Such minor devices as the use of blue lights proved efficacious in the dispersal of wolves. Woolen foot gear, made by friendly natives, supplied a need which has often proved fatal in the Arctic. Good management kept all the Esquimaux loyal, and Schwatka's strong will helped the travellers to live while the dogs were falling exhausted and dying by the way. Among the relics that were brought home was the prow of the boat seen by Sir Leopold McClintock in Erebus Bay, the sled on which it had been transported, and the drag-rope by which the sled was drawn. There were also two sheet-iron stoves from the first camp on King William Land, a brush marked "H. Wilkes," some pieces of clothing from each grave, together with buttons, canteens, shoes, tin cans, pickaxes, and every thing that could in any way tend to identify the occupants of the different graves or those who died without burial. They were offered to the British Admiralty, and, having been gratefully accepted, were added to the relics already deposited at the Museum in Greenwich Hospital, and at the United Service Institution in London. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. NORTHWARD CHAPTER II. THE WINTER CAMP CHAPTER III. OUR DOGS CHAPTER IV. IN THE SLEDGES CHAPTER V. NATIVE WITNESSES CHAPTER VI. THE MIDNIGHT SUN CHAPTER VII. RELICS CHAPTER VIII. IRVING'S GRAVE CHAPTER IX. ARCTIC COSTUMES CHAPTER X. OVER MELTING SNOWS CHAPTER XI. AMATEUR ESQUIMAUX CHAPTER XII. WALRUS DIET CHAPTER XIII. THE RETURN CHAPTER XIV. FAMINE CHAPTER XV. ESQUIMAU HOME-LIFE CHAPTER XVI. HOMEWARD CHAPTER XVII. THE GRAVES OF THE EXPLORERS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.