A portion of it was cut up for fire-wood, and for the first time in that valley, a bright, cheery camp-fire gave comfort to man.") After one day's exploration of the coast line of this island, we lifted anchor and turned our prow to the north in an open sea.( 8) (8 Dr.Kane says, on page 379 of his works: "I cannot imagine what becomes of the ice.

A strong current sets in constantly to the north; but, from altitudes of more than five hundred feet, I saw only narrow strips of ice, with great spaces of open water, from ten to fifteen miles in breadth, between them.

It must, therefore, either go to an open space in the north, or dissolve.") I remember that neither my father nor myself had tasted food for almost thirty hours.

Perhaps this was because of the tension of excitement about our strange voyage in waters farther north, my father said, than anyone had ever before been.

Active mentality had dulled the demands of the physical needs.
Instead of the cold being intense as we had anticipated, it was really warmer and more pleasant than it had been while in Hammerfest on the north coast of Norway, some six weeks before.( 9) (9 Captain Peary's second voyage relates another circumstance which may serve to confirm a conjecture which has long been maintained by some, that an open sea, free of ice, exists at or near the Pole.