The Northern Sound seen by Baffin in 1616 was discovered by Captain Inglefield in 1852 to be a wide channel leading to the polar ocean, and the land on its western side, facing Greenland--also discovered, but not named, by Baffin--received the name of Ellesmere Island from Inglefield. He found the entrance of Smith Sound to be 36 miles across. His extreme northern point was 78° 28′ 21″ N. In 1853 the American, Dr Kane, in the little brig _Advance_ of 120 tons, with a crew of 17 men, started for Smith Sound very poorly equipped[144]. He had some thought of completing the search for Franklin in this direction, but his main idea was to push his way as far north as possible in the brig until he reached the (imaginary) open polar sea. The _Advance_ was stopped by the ice only nine miles north of Inglefield’s most northern position, and there Kane was forced to winter, in a place which he named Rensselaer Harbour, on the east side of the Sound in 78° 37′ N. The coast consists of precipitous cliffs 800 to 1200 feet high, with a belt of ice about 18 feet thick resting on the beach[145]. Some short sledge journeys were undertaken in the spring, and Dr Kane himself went as far as a large discharging glacier, to which he gave the name of Humboldt. His steward, a man named Morton, with the Eskimo Hans Hendrik and a team of dogs, crossed the front of the glacier, and saw some open water caused by a strong current, the extent of which he exaggerated. Unable to extricate the _Advance_, Dr Kane and his people had to face a second winter, unprovided either with fuel or with anything but salt provisions. Scurvy soon attacked them, but they were saved by the kindly natives, who shared with them the proceeds of their hunting. Half the brig being burnt for fuel and the provisions nearly spent, Dr Kane abandoned her on May 17th, 1855, and the whole party retreated to the Danish settlement of Upernivik, which they reached on August 6th, 83 days after abandoning the brig. The story of their hardships and sufferings, as told in the charming narrative of the accomplished leader, is very interesting. His work contains the best account of the Arctic Highlanders, from whom they received so much kindness and hospitality. It is, however, to be regretted that from the exaggerated story of his steward, Dr Kane should have built up such an untenable theory as that of an open polar sea, for it misled many persons for a long time.