1916] TO KING CHRISTIAN ISLAND 239 



and lemming. We found lumps of bituminous coal, 

 apparently of good quality, in every river-bed. 



A short march on the 10th brought us to Cape South- 

 west of Axel Heiberg Land. We had covered 345 miles, 

 at an average of seventeen miles a day. Our dogs, the 

 all-important items of our equipment, were still in good 

 condition, thanks to musk-oxen and bears. Thus far 

 we had lost six, one tossed by musk-oxen, two chewed 

 and clawed by bears, and three from rabies. My men 

 were happy and eager to proceed. 



I could not but help contrast my condition with that 

 of exactly two years before, when I reached the northern 

 end of this same land. With clothes driven full of snow 

 from facing a bitter wind all day, we dug our way into 

 a snowbank and shivered, and finally slept from sheer 

 weariness— the Peary method, no sleeping-bags. 



Tracks of musk-oxen along the ice-foot prompted 

 Ak-pood-a-shah-o to hitch up his dogs and start for 

 meat, following the building of the best snow house I 

 have ever slept in. It was so large— thirteen feet six 

 inches in diameter— that the roof began to sag within 

 twenty-four hours. 



At ten- thirty in the evening, right under the blazing 

 sun low in the north, we saw the sledge coming, and 

 heard Noo-ka-ping-wa, who had gone to meet it, shout: 

 '' Mart-loo-ner ("Two!"). Laughing and shouting, we 

 escorted Ak-pood-a-shah-o into camp, as if he were a 

 victorious general returning from the front. The dogs 

 were fed to the limit. And then we feasted on raw 

 frozen brains and delicious marrow from the cracked leg- 

 bones. What gluttons we were! "Eat it all; clean it 

 up. More can be obtained to-morrow," illustrates the 

 incurable optimism of the Eskimo. But to-morrow we 



