CHAPTER XXXIV 



EXPLORING THE NEW LAND 



WHERE we landed first the coast line is made up generally 

 of rounded gravel banks, few of them more than ten or 

 fifteen feet high, and on my walk inland the first day I 

 estimated that the rise of land even in the direction of the most 

 conspicuous hill was not more than fifty feet to the mile. 



A little earlier in the year we should undoubtedly have trav- 

 eled north along the west coast of our land, but the need of return- 

 ing to our base decided us upon a course in the other direction. 

 After waiting vainly through the whole day of June 19th for the 

 sun to peep out and give a chance for an observation, we took a 

 little nap in the evening and at three in the morning started south- 

 eastward following the coast. At first it was cloudy with the con- 

 ditions of visibility not quite as bad as the worst we were used 

 to. About all we learned concerning the land at first was that the 

 coast gets gradually a little higher, but as the day advanced we 

 began to see both the coast line ahead and some islands to the 

 southwest, notably the one which we have identified as Ireland's 

 Eye and which we judge to be about ten miles from the coast. 

 About northeast of Ireland's Eye the weather cleared enough for 

 us to make sure of being in the mouth of a bay. It was still hazy 

 inland so that we were not equally sure of our supposition that this 

 bay is the mouth of a river. 



What interested us most about the land were the various signs 

 of life, both vegetable and animal. We saw no driftwood, possibly 

 because the beach was heavily covered with snow. Nevertheless 

 from our general knowledge of this vicinity we are prepared to 

 believe that there is very little. On the land was grass in some 

 places and lichens and mosses were in others, but what was more 

 convincing in this respect was the great number of caribou tracks 

 preserved in the mud from the previous summer. We all agreed 

 that in no part of Banks Island had we ever seen caribou tracks 

 so numerous. From the fact that no horns were found we deduced 

 that the bulls are not here in January nor the cows in May, those 



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