GETTING RECRUITS 73 



they draw from the snow and the air the scanty nour- 

 ishment which they require. Seen from a distance, 

 the snow looks like blood. This red banner of the 

 Arctic has greeted me on all my northern journeys. 



Sailing by these cliffs, which extend for thirty or 

 forty miles, my thoughts were busy with the work 

 before us. First and most necessary of all was the 

 task of gathering our arctic personnel of Eskimos and 

 dogs, already begun before we left Cape York. 



Our next stop, after Cape York, was on August 3, 

 at North Star Bay, Oomunnui, as the natives call 

 it, on Wolstenholm Sound. Here I found the Erik, 

 which had become separated from us in Davis Strait 

 several days before during heavy weather. At Oomun- 

 nui we took on two or three families of Eskimos and 

 more dogs. Ooqueah, one of my North Pole party, 

 came aboard at this place; Seegloo had joined us at 

 Cape York. 



On the night of August 5, a clear and sunshiny 

 night, between Hakluyt and Northumberland Islands 

 I left the Roosevelt and transferred to the Erik, taking 

 Matt Henson with me, for a reconnaissance of the 

 various Eskimo settlements on Inglefield Gulf and 

 along the coast. This detour was for the purpose of 

 picking up more Eskimos and dogs. The Roosevelt 

 was sent ahead to Etah, to get in shape for her coming 

 battle royal with the ice in Kane Basin and the chan- 

 nels beyond. 



There was for me a strange mingling of pleasure 

 and sadness in this gathering together of our brown- 

 skinned helpers, for I felt that it was for the last 

 time. The business consumed several days. I went 



