148 NEAREST THE POLE 



Morris Jesup, and no longer in danger of drifting past 

 it and out into the East Greenland Sea. 



In the next march after sighting the land, we came 

 upon the trunk of a tree imbedded in a large floe. 

 The part projecting from the ice was about nine or ten 

 feet long, and the diameter at the ice level some ten 

 or twelve inches. The wood was soft, apparently 

 fir, and a small specimen was taken to permit of pos- 

 sible identification later on. 



The land seemed bewitched and appeared every 

 night to move away from us as far as we had advanced 

 the day before. Slowly, however, its detail sharpened, 

 and I headed directly for the rolling bit of shore at 

 Cape Neumeyer, where I was positive we would find 

 a few hare and hoped that we might find musk-oxen 

 round in Mascart Inlet. 



Finally, we dragged ourselves on to the ice- foot at 

 Cape Neumeyer and inside of an hour had four hare, 

 and very delicious they were, even though unassisted 

 by such frills as salt or fire. 



Just before reaching the land we crossed a fresh 

 sledge trail running parallel with the land and heading 

 east. For a moment I thought it might be a party 

 looking for us, but an inspection of the trail showed 

 at once that it meant trouble. There were three 

 light dogs attached to a single sledge followed by four 

 men walking slowly and with irregular steps. I 

 thought it might be Marvin and his party, and as soon 

 as we had had a few hours' sleep, I sent Ootah and 

 Ahngodoblaho eastward on the trail to find out just 

 what it did mean. The next day they returned with 

 Clark and his three Eskimos. They, like us, had been 



