The day of their start proved mild and pleasant, and at first the travelling was good, the ice being sufficiently smooth to make easy and rapid progress. But such good fortune did not remain with them long, and the inevitable gales made travelling most difficult and painful. The usual snow huts were erected at night, under which they took such comfort as their short hours of rest afforded them. Frost-bites caused them much suffering, and to protect their faces they resorted to curious expedients. “For the eyes,” writes Kennedy, “we had goggles of glass, of wire-gauze, of crape, or of plain wood with a slit in the centre, in the manner of Eskimos. For the face, some had cloth-masks, with neat little crevices for the mouth, nose, and eyes; others were muffled up in the ordinary chin-cloth, and, for that most troublesome of the facial members, the nose, a strong party, with our always original carpenter at their head, had gutta-percha noses, lined with delicate soft flannel.” Though admirable in theory, these contrivances proved failures in practice, and were all discarded except the chin-cloths and goggles. On the 6th of April they reached Brentford Bay, and the fatigue party began their retrograde journey to the ship. At this point Kennedy discovered a strait running westward, separating North Somerset from Boothia Felix. This he named Bellot Strait, in honour of the brave young officer who had secured the affectionate regard of commander and crew. From here the party crossed Victoria Strait to Prince of Wales Land, naming many of the prominent headlands, bays, and islands. On April 17 the thermometer stood at plus 22, “a temperature,” writes Kennedy, “which, to our sensations, was absolutely oppressive. One of our dogs, through over-exertion, fainted in his traces, and lay gasping for breath for a quarter of an hour; but after recovering, went on as merrily as ever. These faithful creatures were perfect treasures to us throughout the journey. They were all suffering, like ourselves, from snow-blindness, but did not in the least relax their exertions on this account. The Eskimo’s dog is, in fact, the camel of these northern deserts; the faithful attendant of man, and the sharer of his labors and privations.” The flat country over which they were travelling, and the close proximity of the Magnetic Pole, which rendered their compass of little use, made it particularly difficult to keep a westerly course. It was hoped that this direction would lead to a sea which would conduct them northward to Cape Walker. From this point they hoped to ascertain if there was any westward channel or strait through which Sir John Franklin might have penetrated. After marching for thirteen days, and reaching the hundredth degree of west longitude, without coming to a sea, Kennedy decided to turn northward to Cape Walker.