564 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



spicuous against the white ice, it seems fairly certain that Mark- 

 ham Island does not exist. Lieutenant Hamilton who reported 

 it must have mistaken some dirty ice for land, a thing very easy 

 to do. 



With Borden Island nowhere in sight, Castel concluded it would 

 delay Natkusiak's Cape Murray plans too much to turn back 

 and make the depot upon it, and he proceeded through Hecla 

 Bay to Cape Fisher where he made a temporary depot, telling 

 Natkusiak to pick up the things for us later on his way north. 

 They then hurried south across Melville Island to Storkerson's 

 camp. They had expected to find it near the head of Liddon Gulf 

 but had to look for it forty or fifty miles farther, for it was, in 

 fact, near Cape Ross. 



Storkerson lost no time in outfitting Natkusiak's party and they 

 started at once for Cape Murray. But it was June and traveling 

 conditions had become bad. The fifteen miles across the isthmus 

 between Liddon Gulf and Hecla Bay were especially hard, for the 

 ground was bare and the load had to be divided and relayed. In 

 Hecla Bay the ice was even worse, but things did not go badly 

 till they got to Cape Fisher and picked up our depot. They also 

 took on too much ovibos meat, making the common mistake of 

 forgetting that "the Lord will provide." From Natkusiak's ac- 

 count they must have had from twelve to fifteen hundred pounds 

 on one sled. When it is remembered that Peary, Sverdrup and 

 northern explorers in general have considered six hundred pounds 

 to be a big load, it is not strange that even our good sleds should 

 be unequal to such a burden, and this was not one of the best. In 

 crossing a water channel on the ice of Macormick Inlet it plunged 

 off one bank to be jammed into the opposite one, and was broken 

 beyond repair. There was nothing to do but spend the summer in 

 the vicinity, which they had done. 



During the summer they killed over fifty ovibos, ten caribou 

 and a few seals, and had accumulated some dried meat. Meantime 

 they had been gradually working their way northward until they 

 discovered a coal mine about five miles west of the tip of Cape 

 Grassy and perhaps half a mile inland. It is a seam tilted on edge 

 and outcrops in various places, but most conveniently for surface 

 mining at the top of a hill on the bank of a small ravine. Besides 

 coal it furnished a sort of pitch that on being lit with a match 

 burned with a flame like that of sealing wax, with a very black 

 smoke and an odor resembling that of asphalt. They were using 

 this for kindling and also as chewing-gum. 



