GREELY'S ARCTIC WINTER OF STARVATION 353 



roll as she struck, the engines being reversed directly her prow 

 penetrated the ice, so as to prevent her wedging herself in. This 

 exciting operation was repeated several times when she met the floe 

 in Lady Franklin Bay, and only by its means was she able to ram 

 her way through and reach the destination of the expedition. 



A site for landing was selected on the north of Discovery Bay, 

 where the "Discovery," of the Nares expedition, had wintered in 

 1876. Proceeding a little distance from the spot where the "Dis- 

 covery" winter quarters had been erected, a suitable situation was 

 marked out for "Fort Conger," which was to form the base of the 

 operations pending the time when the relief ship was due to take 

 the expedition home again. 



During the following week every one was hard at work erect- 

 ing the frame house which was to form their home during the next 

 two years, unloading stores and other articles belonging to the 

 expedition, arranging the heavy casks and cases of imperishable 

 provisions near the house, and exploring and hunting over the sur- 

 rounding country. 



On August 1 8th, all the stores belonging to the party were 

 landed from the "Proteus," and that vessel got up steam and bade 

 farewell. The men of the party worked with such a will that they 

 had their house built, the recording instruments erected in proper 

 localities, the provisions stacked, and everything in order sufficiently 

 early to permit them to carry out some surveys while the weather 

 was yet mild enough for sledge traveling. Attention was also given 

 to obtaining as much game as possible, and by the time that the 

 temperature was cold enough to warrant their going into winter 

 quarters, they had obtained for their larder twenty-six musk oxen 

 and ten ducks, besides hare, seal, and ptarmigan, in all 6,000 pounds 

 of fresh meat for their own food, and an equal amount for the dogs. 



In the middle of September they were visited by a large pack of 

 wolves. These were first discovered prowling over the ice on the 

 harbor in front of the encampment, and, fearing the loss of some 



