“By 1854, when the search was called off, almost every corner of the Canadian archipelago below the 77th parallel had been traversed, drawn, and recorded on large maps carefully tipped into the papers. So fragile now they hardly bear touching, they are still in their spare precision beautiful and moving, the tangible result of the toes and fingers lost to frostbite, the starvation and profound exhaustion and sometimes the death of me dragging heavy sledges over rough ice or through deep snow, skirting the edge of human endurance.” SacrificePolar Exploration Book:The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage Source: The Man Who Ate His Boots: The Tragic History of the Search for the Northwest Passage