EXPEDITION OF 1898-1902 309 



feed them. The natives made two attempts to reach 

 and bring in the two men left at Cape Cracrof t, but were 

 driven back both times by the darkness and furious 

 winds. Finally, some ten days after we left the dug- 

 out, they reached it again, and found that the two men, 

 after eating some of their dogs, had started for the ship 

 on foot, the few remaining dogs following them. 



On the 1 8th of February, the moonlight and the 

 remaining twilight afforded enough light for a fair 

 day's march in each twenty-four hours; and we started 

 for the Windward. My toes were unhealed, and I 

 could hardly stand for a moment. I had twelve dogs 

 left, but their emaciated condition and the character 

 of the road precluded riding by anyone but myself. 

 Lashed firmly down, with feet and legs wrapped in 

 musk-ox skin, I formed the only load of one sledge. 

 The other carried the necessary provisions. 



On the 28 th we reached the Windward, everyone 

 but myself having walked the entire distance, of not 

 less than 250 miles, in eleven days. Fortunately for 

 us, and particularly for me, the weather during our 

 return, though extremely cold, was calm, with the 

 exception of one day from Cape Cracroft south, during 

 which the furious wind kept us enveloped in driving 

 snow. The mean minimum daily temperature while 

 we were returning was -56. 18° F., reaching the lowest, 

 -65° F., the day we arrived at the Windward. 



March 3d I started one of my] Eskimos for Whale 

 Sound with a summons to the hunters there to come 

 to me with their dogs and sledges. Between the 3d 

 and the 1 4th, a party of Eskimos coming unexpectedly, 

 the last of the musk-ox meat on Bache Peninsula was 



