488 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



appeared to him to be any doubt of their using every effort to that 

 end, he agreed to stay with the expedition another year for the 

 purpose of bringing the ship north. But if it seemed to him that 

 the Captain and crew would make a faithful effort he would pro- 

 ceed to Bernard Harbor and thence south and home with the 

 southern section of our expedition whose outlined work was now 

 finished. 



Upon reaching the Bear Wilkins was to take astronomical obser- 

 vations to determine local time and carry that as rapidly as pos- 

 sible to Bernard Harbor so as to "tie up" our observations with 

 those of Chipman and Cox of the southern section, who had better 

 chronometers and every facility for greater accuracy of astronomi- 

 cal work. He would there use up the last of his film in getting as 

 good pictures of ethnological subjects as possible. He would then 

 go home with the southern section, which we expected would finish 

 its work that year, arriving in Victoria and Ottawa perhaps in 

 September. After reporting to the Government at Ottawa he in- 

 tended to join the Australian forces on the French front, probably 

 in the aviation section, for his moving-picture work before the war 

 had been in considerable part done from aeroplanes, dirigibles, and 

 balloons, giving him invaluable training in that sort of service.* 



As we traveled northeast from Liddon Gulf following Storker- 

 son's trail we had beautiful weather and from that point on had 

 every opportunity to see whatever game there was on either side 

 of the Gulf. But the topography is such that there are few places 

 where animals can be seen from the sea ice unless they are within 

 a mile of the beach. In spite of this we saw on the average half 

 a hundred cattle per day, and from the top of Hooper Island on a 

 clear morning a hundred and fourteen were counted. We killed 

 none of these, as Storkerson had left for us caches of fresh meat 

 here and there. We learned from him later as well as from Her- 

 man's account that the animals they killed on the east side of the 

 Gulf were fat while those on the west side were lean. This seems 

 to indicate that the vegetation is superior on the east side, yet 

 those killed on the west side were only four and there may have 

 been some accidental reason for the difference. We saw no caribou, 

 perhaps because they are light-colored and inconspicuous as com- 

 pared with the ovibos. These huge black animals can be seen, 

 whether on a snowfield in winter or against a green hillside in sum- 



* Wilkins later carried out this program exactly. He served two years at 

 the front during which time he was promoted to be Captain, was several times 

 mentioned in despatches, and received the Military Cross. 



