110 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [June 



the house, across the river valley to the heights east. 

 Yet after all this effort not a rewarding buzz was heard ! 

 A rattle, bang, snap, and crash, the voices of the terrific 

 winds sweeping down from the Greenland ice-cap out to 

 sea, were the only answer to his appeal. 



Confident that results could be obtained by using 

 kite wire as an aerial, Allen expended many weeks of 

 hard labor in building and flying huge box-kites; but 

 the experiment failed, because of winds uncertain both 

 in force and in direction. Confident again that if a sub- 

 station could be established on one of the outer islands, 

 remote from the counter influence of the big hills back- 

 ing Borup Lodge, results would certainly be obtained, 

 he requested a trial. With the help of our motor-boat, 

 whale-boat, and the Eskimos, all the electrical and wire- 

 less equipment was transferred to Starr Island, some 

 two miles southwest from the lodge. Here, with the 

 help of Ensign Green, a small house w^as built and the 

 equipment installed, with the same negative results. 



The boys, both ambitious for study, found this little 

 home, warm and well stocked w^ith food, so cozy and 

 comfortable that they preferred its comparative quiet- 

 ness to the company of the white men and the fun-loving 

 Eskimos. This happy decision was a distinct advantage 

 to the expedition in that it served as an objective for 

 our daily walk, and also as a meteorological sub-station, 

 where conditions were at times so different as to be al- 

 most uncanny. As an illustration: Starting from our 

 house one day with the thermometer at -24 F., there 

 was a sharp division line about half-way to the island, 

 where the temperature dropped to -40. This remark- 

 able change was very evident upon two other occasions. 

 Undoubtedly our temperatures at Borup Lodge, right 



