ETAH TO CAPE SHERIDAN 35 



"American" route was immediately apparent to me 

 in 1898, and in any future work it should be given 

 preference over Payer Harbour. Its advantages are 

 contiguity to a valuable game region, accessibility 

 during any month in the year, and its less changeable 

 and boisterous climate. 



The work of landing the depot occupied about ten 

 hours of the i8th, and while the work was in progress 

 I went away with three Eskimos to a neighbouring 

 valley which I knew, and secured three musk-oxen, 

 a large bull, a cow, and a yearling, the latter being 

 brought aboard alive. This animal was of the greatest 

 interest to the crew and the "tenderfoot" members 

 of the expedition, and the arrival of nearly eight 

 hundred pounds of fine fresh beef created a very agree- 

 able impression on everyone. 



Up to this time the rush of getting on board my 

 Eskimos and dogs, re-stowing the ship and fighting 

 the ice, had left me no time for a thought beyond the 

 demands of each hour. Now as I trod the moss 

 patches beside the murmuring stream whose quieter 

 reaches were crusted with ice, saw the fresh tracks of 

 big game and a little later the shaggy black bulks of 

 the musk-oxen with heads lowered and hoofs stamping, 

 in the way I knew so well, my pulses bounded rapidly 

 and I felt that I had come into my own again. 



From Bache Peninsula we steamed for Hayes Point 

 through scattered ice, with the heavy pack close 

 on the starboard hand. Conditions were different 

 from those of 1898, when the Windward was five days 

 crossing the mouth of Princess Marie Bay. The night 

 was fine and I could make out every well-known rock 



