314 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [Aug. 



long after they were gone I watched the white dots on 

 the bank to the left of the house — my dogs. We had 

 traveled far together. Together we had enjoyed those 

 long bright days far beyond the snow-capped peaks of 

 Ellesmere Land; and together we had faced heavy 

 wind and cutting drifts. I couldn't leave them all. 

 Three were with me, bound for the land to the south 

 where there are no heavy loads and long trails. Their 

 pulling days were over. 



Extensive fields of ice on the southern horizon caused 

 Captain Bartlett to attempt a passage south by follow- 

 ing closely the Ellesmere Land coast. At Clarence 

 Head he encountered a solid mass; not a lead could be 

 seen. We steamed eastward toward the Cary Islands, 

 and remained here locked in the ice for three days. 

 Two big iron plates had already been ripped completely 

 off the bows of the ship, leaving bolt-holes tlirough which 

 the water was pouring incessantly. All steam-pumps 

 were working to full capacity and had been doing so for 

 days. A well was constructed in the forehold out of 

 heavy planks from which, in case of emergency, water 

 could be dipped with barrels and buckets. 



There was no opening to the south'ard, so the Neptune 

 steamed back toward the southwestern shores of North- 

 umberland and Hakluyt Islands. I had hoped, since 

 my advent into the Arctic, to land upon the latter. 

 Discovered and named by William Baffin more than 

 300 years ago, it was the center of controversy for years, 

 and was finally erased from the map, together with all 

 of Baffin Bay, because the account was "vague, indef- 

 inite, and unsatisfactory, and . . . most unlike the writ- 

 ing of William Baffin." 



Two hundred years passed away before another ship 



