260 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



a land wind is blowing prevented us from seeing beyond the limits 

 of the grounded ice. 



On the southwest coast of Banks Island between Nelson Head 

 and Cape Kellett there is deep water inshore, and even in winter the 

 ice is carried away from the land by any offshore wind. But north 

 of Kellett there is a shelf of shallow water along the land that 

 grows wider as you go north until towards the middle of Banks 

 Island it is twelve or fifteen miles wide. In the vicinity of Norway 

 Island the shelf becomes that much broader, so that it extends fif- 

 teen or more miles beyond. On all this shelf there was the grounded 

 ice that we speak of as ''landfast." The Star might even make her 

 way north between it and the land, but we knew that any ship could 

 sail north outside of it. 



Towards the end of August navigation conditions had become so 

 good that we began to despair of the Star's coming. It seemed then 

 that only shipwreck or some condition almost equally serious other 

 ^han that of ice must be keeping her away. I really made up my 

 mind to this about the 18th of August and we were about to start 

 south along the west coast, thinking she might be wrecked some- 

 where between us and Kellett, when we had an unaccountable 

 change of heart and decided to wait another week. By the 27th 

 there was no use waiting further, so we dug a huge pit in the earth, 

 lined it with stones, filled it with stores of dried meat, caribou 

 tallow and caribou skins, and covered it with stones which would 

 secure it from any animal except a polar bear. Not having seen a 

 single bear since landing, we thought the cache might prove safe 

 till we came back for it. 



Now the plan was to follow the coast south to Kellett, searching 

 every bay for the Star or possible traces of her. If none were 

 found we would return to our cache and stay through early winter 

 until the ample daylight of February or early March. We talked 

 about starting then for the mainland, going first east into Victoria 

 Island, then south through the country so well known to me from 

 my previous expedition, across Coronation Gulf to Bear Lake. 

 Privately I had in my mind the hope that we might get through 

 the winter so well that my companions would in the spring be will- 

 ing to make a second ice exploration, in which case the calculation 

 would be to get to the mainland in May or June. 



We started along the coast southward on September 1st. The 

 method of travel was that Storkerson and Ole followed behind 

 with the camp equipment and food for three or four days, carried 

 mostly by the dogs, although the men carried the bulkiest bedding. 



