THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 563 



I should like to quote further (were it not too lengthy) my 

 entry for that day for it shows better than I can now how over- 

 joyed we were to get in touch with people and what a surprise it 

 was to find them this far north. Having once ascertained that 

 they were not at Cape Murray, we had not been expecting to find 

 them this side of Liddon Gulf; most likely, we thought, they would 

 be all gathered in the vicinity of the Bear which would be at 

 Winter Harbor southeast from Liddon Gulf. 



The best news to reach me was the fire which was blazing in an 

 open fireplace when I entered the comfortable ovibos-skin camp. 

 They had discovered an excellent coal mine half a mile from the 

 camp, good lignite, in inexhaustible quantity from our point of 

 view, at least. "This is better than a gold mine," says the diary. 

 "Had I a wishing-cap I could not have wished for things more 

 valuable to the expedition than coal on northwestern Melville 

 Island convenient for our spring work." 



We got much news and in the main it was good. There was a 

 report from Castel which Natkusiak supplemented. When they 

 left us at Cape Isachsen they had made a course for the northwest 

 corner of King Christian Island, but that northwest corner existed 

 upon the map only and they found none of it. This puzzled Castel 

 greatly, but the weather was thick and he thought he might have 

 missed it. Turning west now towards where they thought our 

 Borden Island lay, the party sighted land out of the fog which they 

 took to be King Christian Island, either misplaced on the map or 

 more extensive than there indicated. But it was really the north 

 end of Lougheed Island and Castel was therefore its first dis- 

 coverer. I should have given his name to the north cape of it had 

 I not already placed that name on the fine bay which he discovered 

 Just west of Mercy Bay on Banks Island. If he had realized that 

 the land was new he would have left our depot upon it, knowing 

 that we should see it also and explore it, but as he took it to be 

 King Christian Island he merely built a small cairn and left a 

 message. This must have been on a little strip of coast that we 

 never visited. He left this land after skirting the coast a few 

 miles and after Natkusiak had killed some caribou, and expected 

 to strike the southeast corner of our Borden Island, optimistically 

 estimating that it would reach far enough east to intercept his di- 

 rect course for Cape Richards. It did not clear till he got to that 

 vicinity, but when it did he was unable to see Markham Island, 

 which should have been as plain as Hamilton Island, found lying 

 in its appointed place. As land is at this season black and con- 



