Each man in the party wore a woolen underdress and an Eskimo suit of fur. The men’s boots were of their own make, fashioned of canvas and lined with walrus hide. Inside of these boots each man wore another pair, made of carpeting which had been taken from the cabin of the _Advance_. To save themselves from becoming snow-blind, they wore large goggles, made by cutting a small slit in a piece of wood. Some had entire masks made of gutta percha. It was May when Kane and his companions bade farewell to the brig and set out to cover the thirteen hundred miles of ice and water which lay between them and the place where they hoped to find a settlement. Yet they did not despair. The men who were able to work, dragged sledges and boats as far as the spot selected for a camp. Here they built a hut or erected a tent for the sick, making them as comfortable as they could. Then the workers went back over the same route and brought along the baggage, which had been left behind because they could not carry it all at one time. Thus they were obliged to travel back over each day’s march, and each following day to bring ahead the baggage that could not be carried the first time. [Illustration: TRAVELING OVER THE ICE HUMMOCKS.] It was slow progress, but they kept on bravely. Often they were delayed by heavy snowstorms. As they could not drag the sledges through the deep drifts, they crept into their tents and slept, waiting for the storm to pass away. When it became possible for them to travel again, they started out, plowing their way through the snow, often so tired that they could hardly lift their feet. Sometimes they journeyed over thin ice, and many a man fell through and just escaped drowning. It was near the middle of June when the party reached the shores of Baffin bay and began to launch the boats. The launching took a long time, for the surf beat high along the shore, and great masses of drifting ice were dashed about. A severe gale arose, and the boats were nearly crushed in the ice, but a day later they succeeded in putting off from the shore. The _Faith_ led the way, with Captain Kane aboard. Then followed the _Red Eric_, with most of the provisions, and last of all, the _Hope_. These three small boats were now embarked on a sea in which the hardiest whaling vessel might easily founder. The party were all hopeful until provisions were exhausted; then the stoutest hearts failed. Even Kane despaired of ever reaching a settlement, but he was too brave a leader to allow his men to know this, and he encouraged them in every way possible. The men grew so weak from want of food that they were scarcely able to guide the boats.