258 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [May 



sees those valleys and big white hills rolling back be- 

 neath him. 



Thick fog compelled us to camp on the back of the 

 glacier. The trail was lost; not a landmark could be 

 seen Lost again on the 11th. We dared not go on for 

 fear of going over the edge of the glacier. No one could 

 sleep; all were as restless as myself. At the first ray 

 of sun through the clouds, sledges were packed and we 

 were off down the glacier and valley to the sea ice, where 

 we found, in our old igloo, four bear and two musk-ox 

 skins left by two of my men. Our sledges were now 

 well loaded — fourteen bear and thirteen musk-ox skins. 



At the water-hole, four seals furnished us with a 

 change of diet. Seal meat is the Eskimo's turkey, his 

 staple food; a seal's flipper is his entree, and a seal's 

 liver his ice-cream. We learned to like it; in fact we 

 were never tired of it. I think our good health during 

 the four years may be attributed to our abundance of 

 fresh seal meat. And every spring, on the ice-floes off 

 Newfoundland, at least two million pounds are left to 

 rot! 



On the 14th we pitched our tent on the ice in front 

 of Greely's Starvation Camp of 1884. We could see a 

 number of seals at their holes, and we secured one 

 easily. How many times I have wished that one Etah 

 Eskimo could have crossed Smith Sound to that camp 

 of dying men! He might have saved the lives of the 

 whole party. 



Heading east, we heard the sound of waves beating 

 against the edge of the ice. Stretching north as far as 

 the eye could see was open water. Smith Sound had 

 broken up! We knew, however, that somewhere to the 

 north of us was the solid pack — a bridge to Greenland. 



