548 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



in the shore lead the flavor of the land water, which was not always 

 good. There was the chemical taste in some places, in others the 

 little rivers had been running through peat beds, giving the water 

 a brown color and peculiar flavor. 



By September 8th we were at the northwest corner of Lougheed 

 Island ready to cross to Borden Island but a reconnoitering excur- 

 sion proved that the young ice covering the thaw on top of the old 

 ice was not yet strong enough. The trouble was not so much 

 that the frost at night had been insufficient but rather that there 

 was a heavy blanket of soft snow. However, it froze exceptionally 

 hard the night between the 8th and the 9th and the cold continued 

 all day, so that we considered it safe. 



Our sentiments on leaving Lougheed Island are shown by the, 

 diary on September 9th: ''We left Lougheed Island at 4:20 P. M. to- 

 day. It is a hospitable if not a very pretentious place. We have 

 not been hungry nor uncomfortable and are taking away with us 

 food to last two or three weeks and skins for bedding and for cloth- 

 ing. We traveled about due west four miles and camped at 6:35 

 P. M. to get our work done before dark so as not to have to use our 

 tallow for light. Our good Burberry tent being dark of color and 

 double, is a poor place to do anything in after sundown unless you 

 burn a light (and this we can scarcely afford for we need all the 

 tallow for food) . The snow on the ice is much deeper than on the 

 land and the sled frequently sinks to the toboggan bottom (so 

 that we should have trouble without this useful device). The ice 

 on the ponds is barely strong enough and creaks under the weight 

 of the sled." 



But as we traveled on in continued frosty weather the ice got 

 daily stronger and became in the main safe although we always 

 had to be cautious. I used to walk ahead carrying the ice spear 

 to test every low place, and occasionally I slipped through. Soft 

 snow and rough ice mean slow progress, so that it was not until 

 September 14th that we sighted land. We reached Borden Island 

 next day and found the ice on the shore lead weak. After looking 

 about and picking a comparatively safe crossing, we tried to rush 

 the sled over quickly, but it broke through just as we were getting 

 it to land, and the load had a close call from the wet. 



Before us now were rather trying conditions. A good survey of 

 the coast was difficult for it snowed nearly every day. The black 

 headlands that would have been conspicuous a week or two before 

 were now white and indistinct against the leaden sky. Daylight, 



