Hardly had Lieutenant Lockwood reoccupied his corner long enough to get thoroughly rested and warm, before we find him hard at work again and ready for any emergency. At the request of Lieutenant Greely, he undertook a task in which he himself feared that he manifested more zeal than discretion. Dr. Pavy, the natural history custodian of the expedition, having failed to render reports of the collections, or properly care for them, was relieved soon after Lockwood’s return from the west, and the department was transferred to Lockwood. With very little aid from the doctor, he made lists and secured the specimens from further injury, the men having shown much industry and zeal in adding to the collection. In the mean time, Fredericks, who was a saddler by trade, rendered good service by making for Lockwood and the men seal-skin boots, which were of great use; and he also made himself useful by overhauling the sleeping-bags and making new ones for the contemplated boat-voyage to Littleton Island at a later day. Snyder had also made some wearing gear for use on board the relief-ship.
“What a change for us all,” wrote Lockwood on 280 the 3d of June, “if we ever return home! And how much to talk about, and how much to hear! Just two years ago, I left Baltimore on the Nova Scotia, to join the Proteus at St. John’s. Open water is reported in the straits near Cape Baird. How eagerly we watch for any change that may effect our release!”
On the 22d of June, a party was sent up the Bellows for game and returned successful, having killed eight musk-oxen, one seal, and a few geese, all of which were duly brought in. Many waterfowl and ptarmigans were brought from other points; and then followed a grand dinner in honor of Dr. Pavy’s birthday. To show the social relations of the officers, Lockwood says, “The only remark at dinner was a very sage one by myself, viz., that the sun was now on his way south, to which Lieutenant Greely assented.
“The men all busy and all cheerful. Lieutenant Greely remarked that it did not look as if the ‘gloom which their coming fate cast over the spirits of the men’ was quite as deep as Lieutenant Kislingbury thought it to be. Another day gone,” wrote Lockwood—“another day nearer the end of our stay here! A miserable, gloomy day it is too. Snow, or snow mixed with rain, all day, and last night it blew a gale from the right direction to clear away the ice—north-east. I think myself now in excellent condition for a hermit’s life, having had two years’ experience of a life not very dissimilar.”
On the 3d of June, Lockwood made the ascent of an immense “hog-back” north of the station. Hog-back was the term used by the English to designate 281 the oval-shaped elevations so common in this region, being neither mountain nor table-land, but immense undulations which, with more or less slope, rise three, four, or even five thousand feet above the sea-level. He was the first to ascend this one, and did so to view the country northwest of it, which he desired to explore. It was the highest of a series of ridges, half a mile or so apart, each just high enough to suggest the idea of its being the genuine top, but showing another beyond still higher. He pressed on, frequently resting, and finally did reach the top, and saw, beyond, the United States Mountains in the distance. The view from this elevation, more than half a mile above the sea-level, was superb. The straits seemed one solid mass of ice. The Greenland shore and Archer’s Fiord were in full view. The whole land was made up of mountains.
The 4th of July was celebrated by a game of baseball, in which Lieutenant Greely took part; also the Esquimaux, but they confined themselves to running after the ball. A good dinner followed, to which Lieutenant Greely contributed four bottles of Sauterne; but the doctor declined the wine, and made a hasty meal. They also had a rifle-match. Several of the men donned white shirts and other “store-clothes,” metamorphosing themselves completely, flannel shirts, with trousers in boots, being the usual costume.
On the same day Lieutenant Greely issued an order directing Dr. Pavy to turn over to Lieutenant Lockwood all the medical stores, journals, and collections, 282 the former having declined to renew his engagement, which had expired. On the 11th of July, Lockwood started with Brainard on an exploration toward the northwest with a view of reaching, if possible, the United States range of mountains. They carried an outfit weighing one hundred pounds, or twenty-five pounds for each man at the start, as Henry and Biederbick were to help them with the impedimenta for one day and then return. They went without sledge or tent, and carried only blanket, sleeping-bags, a small lamp, and a few pounds of food, with instruments, snow-shoes, etc. They soon reached the top of the hog-back beyond “Sugar-Loaf,” and afterward the true hog-back Lockwood had visited before, finding it 2,700 feet high. Thence they kept a north-northwest course toward a prominent glacier in the United States Range, moving about parallel to North Valley Creek, which empties into St. Patrick’s Bay. After traveling fourteen miles they camped—that is, selected as smooth and sheltered a spot as could be found, made some tea, spread out the sleeping-bags, and crawled in.
Henry and Biederbick left the next morning evidently well satisfied to forego the pleasures of this trip. Their departure rendered it necessary to reduce the load somewhat, which was done by leaving behind the snow-shoes and rubber spread, trusting to luck to find a bare spot for their sleeping-bag. After tramping through much wet snow alternating with mud and stones, and getting their feet soaking wet, they came to two deep gorges close together, each occupied 283 by a considerable stream of water. They crossed these and ascended a dome beyond, three thousand feet high, and thence came to a still larger stream whose gorge was one thousand feet deep. Here they stopped for the night after a tramp of twelve miles. The next morning the sky was overcast, with barometric indications of a storm; but they continued their way with reduced loads, having only one day’s food left. Following the stream northwest a few miles, they crossed it and ascended a high elevation, from which the United States range could be very distinctly viewed, and then came to the conclusion that they had gone far enough.
With the telescope they could see distinctly, about twenty miles away, the walls of the great glacier, and its face ten mile............