With stout hearts, undaunted by toil or danger, they went boldly on, though by degrees it became clear to the leaders of the expedition that they were almost like mice upon a treadmill cage, making a great expenditure of leg for little gain.

The ice was floating to the south with them, as they were walking to the north; still they went on.

Sleeping by day to avoid the glare, and to get greater warmth during the time of rest, and travelling by night--watch-makers' days and nights, for it was all one polar day--the men soon were unable to distinguish noon from midnight.
The great event of one day on this dreary waste was the discovery of two flies upon an ice hummock; these, says Parry, became at once a topic of ridiculous importance.

Presently, after twenty-three miles' walking, they had only gone one mile forward, the ice having industriously floated twenty-two miles in the opposite direction; and then, after walking forward eleven miles, they found themselves to be three miles behind the place from which they started.

The party accordingly returned, not having reached the Pole, not having reached the eighty-third parallel, for the attainment of which there was a reward of a thousand pounds held out by government.