To return to our expedition. On reaching a depôt made at Cape Joseph Henry (Grinnell Land), the point from which they would leave the land, the party was re-arranged; only fifteen men with three sledges, carrying a weight of 6,079 pounds in all, were to form the northern party, which, under Markham and Parr, would proceed direct “to sea.” It is needless to say that it was a sea of ice, and very ancient ice also, making the travelling correspondingly difficult from the enormous size of the hummocks and extent of their fields. Perhaps the entries appended to each day’s travel in Markham’s “Journal” will give as good an idea of the difficulty and the tortuous nature of their route, and of the frequency of their trips over the same road being duplicated and triplicated, as any direct description. We find constantly entries like the following:—“Course and distance made good north four miles. Distance marched, thirteen miles.” This is a mild example. It was found impossible to move the whole of their heavy loads at one time. Indeed, during a large part of the journey but one sledge at a time could be dragged forward. This entailed returning _twice_, and in effect making _five_ trips over the same route, thus: forward with number one; return and forward with number two; return and forward with number three, the process being repeated as long as the endurance of the party was equal to it. One mile of progress became therefore five of actual travel; in some cases, where the parties on the return journeys had become enfeebled, and had to be carried on the sledges, _three_ returns had to be made by the working members, thus entailing _seven_ trips over the same route. Markham’s “Journal” for April 10th has, “Distance made good, one mile. Distance marched, seven.” On the 12th it was as one and a half to nine, on the 17th as one and a quarter to nine, and on the 18th as one to ten, the latter taking ten hours to accomplish. The writer can understand all this well, having in a minor degree had the same experiences in Northern Alaska, where the winters are only a shade less severe than in these extreme latitudes.(18)