248 NEAREST THE POLE 



About 6 A. M. of the 31st, the ice loosened close along 

 the ice- foot towards Lincoln Bay, but before our lines 

 could be cast off it had closed in again. From here I 

 sent five Eskimos across overland after the skins of 

 some musk-oxen which had been killed earlier in the 

 season. About breakfast time Sipsu and his wife 

 came in from Conger. He was dressed out in cavalry 

 officer's uniform, and he and his wife and his one dog 

 were loaded with pots and pans and packs and bundles 

 of every description till they looked like a troupe of 

 tramp pedlars. 



At 5 p. M. the ice eased off along the ice-foot again 

 and we got under way. The Roosevelt was very light 

 and in excellent trim for escaping a nip, but she was 

 leaking a good deal about the stem, and her twisted 

 stempost made her very difficult to steer. After 

 running into the ice-foot two or three times she managed 

 to work her way around the point into Lincoln Bay, 

 along its north shore to its head, and across to the 

 south side where she was made fast in a comparatively 

 sheltered place. Her position was a vast improvement 

 upon her previous one where the caprice of a big floe 

 might at any moment force her high and dry on the 

 shore. As soon as we were fast, I sent one man back 

 to Shelter River to wait the return of the five men, 

 five others out after hare, and two others south to 

 assist Ootah, the other Conger Eskimo who was in 

 camp at Shift Rudder Bay, his wife having given birth 

 to a boy while en route to the ship. Here for the first 

 time since June ist, I undressed and went to bed like 

 a civilised man. It seemed a bit strange. At 2 p. m. 

 we got under way again (one of the crew enlivening 



