THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 593 



Getting lost doubled the distance overland, which of itself was of 

 little consequence. But this was a mountainous country full of 

 precipices. It was now the dark of the moon and with continual 

 storms they had no light at any time. From Natkusiak's account 

 and from all other accounts later they had many narrow escapes 

 from death. These were the things that might have been serious. 

 What actually was serious was that they had to drag their sledges 

 for miles over rocks, so that the steel runners were weakened on 

 some till they were no longer reliable and on one they were worn 

 away completely. 



Now we should have been practically helpless but for Bernier's 

 sleds and boat at Winter Harbor. Our tools were inadequate and 

 Bernier had left none, but his sleds were of a type so unsuited to 

 our work that we had to find some way of removing the shoeing 

 and transferring it to our sleds. It was not the right width nor 

 the right quality but it had to do. Most fortunately there was a 

 shoeing not only on his sleds but also on the boat, for it had been 

 made with the idea that it might sometimes be dragged over ice. 

 We were reluctant to strip a boat left there for a definite purpose, 

 but we had found Melville Island such a good country to live in 

 that we thought any shipwrecked people could well spend the 

 winter there, and if they wanted to leave it, it would be easier to 

 walk out than to depend on a boat in the early spring, no matter 

 how good for getting out in summer. We thus made use of what 

 Bernier had left to further our success, not to insure our safety. 



Storkerson's party would have to spend a long time at Winter 

 Harbor, certainly weeks and perhaps a month. This brought to 

 my mind more forcibly a fear that he and I had already discussed. 

 Until the discovery of Bernier's depot we had not worried about 

 scurvy but now the danger was imminent unless we were careful. 

 I cautioned Storkerson and indeed all the men to be sure to eat 

 plenty of ovibos meat along with the Winter Harbor groceries, 

 and if necessary, to feed groceries to the dogs so as to leave fresh 

 meat for the men. 



This gives excellent opportunity for a digression on the subject 

 of scurvy but there is no space. Any one interested can get the 

 facts about this disease from the medical literature of the last half 

 dozen years. If he goes a little farther back than that he may 

 get interesting reading but not many facts. For up to the begin- 

 ning of the Great War most of what was believed by the medical 

 profession about scurvy would be classed now by an unfriendly 



