ALONG THE GREENLAND COAST 163 



In the next march we proceeded to Cape Bryant 

 where we came upon sledge-tracks several days old 

 coming in from the north. An examination of these 

 tracks developed the fact that there were two sledges 

 and that the party with them had proceeded to a 

 considerable eminence south and east of Cape Bryant 

 evidently for the purpose of reconnoitring and then 

 having obtained their bearings had taken the ice-foot 

 around Cape Bryant and proceeded southwestward 

 along the coast. I felt there could be no doubt but 

 that this was Marvin's party, but there were no indica- 

 tions in the trail to show that that they were in serious 

 straits. 



This general scattering of my supporting parties, 

 however, gave me a great deal of uneasiness as to 

 Ryan and his party, and whether they had reached 

 some of the other parties before the storm came on. 

 The parties of the Captain and the Doctor being nearer 

 land than the others, would, I felt sure, have been more 

 out of the sweep of the drift than the others, and would 

 probably have no serious difficulty in regaining the 

 Grant Land coast. 



At Cape Bryant I started two Eskimos with carbine 

 and cartridges overland to travel about parallel with 

 the shore and a few miles from it, in order to detect 

 any traces of musk-oxen in the region. They had 

 instructions to return to the shore a little east of Hand 

 Bay at a place which I designated as being where we 

 would camp for the night. Following the ice-foot w^e 

 passed the cache of musk-ox meat which my support- 

 ing party Ootah and Pooblah, returning from Britannia 

 Island in the spring of 1 900, had obtained and left for me. 



