THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 493 



could use all our fat for light and food. On arrival back in Mel- 

 ville Island from the Bear he was to decide whether time would 

 allow him to recross Melville Sound to the north coast of Victoria 

 Island for the purpose of finishing his interrupted survey of the 

 previous fall. 



I wanted Thomsen to spend the summer in Melville Island but 

 he was reluctant to do this unless he might go to Cape Kellett to 

 fetch his family, and this was agreed. I have always had a preju- 

 dice against making long journeys entirely alone, but we could 

 not possibly furnish Thomsen with anybody to go back with him 

 and he was eager to make the trip alone, so I consented to it. The 

 understanding was that he would return immediately to Liddon 

 Gulf with his family. He felt sure that the time was ample for 

 doing so, but if he could not make the return journey he was to 

 spend the summer at or near Mercy Bay, perhaps at one of the 

 already discovered coal mines. This is an excellent hunting coun- 

 try for caribou on the land and polar bears and seals at sea, so 

 that he would be able to put up an abundance of food. Some of 

 the meat he would dry for sledge provisions, and with seal oil for 

 fuel he would come across to Liddon Gulf about or a little after the 

 New Year. 



During the fall of 1915 Wilkins had taken a number of zoologi- 

 cal specimens, both birds and mammals. The skins and skeletons 

 of these were at the Star. Thomsen was to pick up a sledge-load 

 of these and take them down to Kellett, where Captain Bernard 

 would box them up for shipment should a whaling ship come in. 

 We had some hope that Captain Theodore Pedersen of the whaler 

 Herman would bring our mail to Kellett and possibly some things 

 shipped in by the Government. I had given Bernard explicit in- 

 structions, which I also impressed on Thomsen, that should mail 

 or supplies be landed by the Herman or any other ship at Kellett 

 during the summer of 1916 Captain Bernard was to make no at- 

 tempt to bring them to Melville Island, for I considered his re- 

 sources wholly inadequate for doing so with safety. We hoped 

 for some scientific instruments which we needed badly, letters from 

 friends are always a delight, especially in the Arctic, and instruc- 

 tions from the Government might be of importance. But Melville 

 Sound does not freeze over until the middle of winter. The dark 

 season from November to February is diflScult to travel in and 

 only the latter half is suited for a trip to Melville Island, as the 

 ice bridge between the islands is not available before late December 

 or early January, while a party leaving Cape Kellett with the 



