616 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



a lead, and were defeated at the end by ice movement and forced 

 to remain in camp.* Ice movement during the night allowed us 

 to proceed in the morning and for some time we had only the 

 ordinary obstacles of rough ice. 



Noice was eventually compelled to ride all the time except 

 when we came to a pressure ridge where we had to make a 

 road with pickaxes. Here he would walk a little, although I think 

 not more than one or two hundred yards at a time. By May 10th 

 when we got to the shore lead Knight's disease had developed so 

 that, although he had not been forced to ride, he was no longer 

 able to be of material help. Still, he certainly did his best, and 

 it was admirable what fortitude both he and Noice showed and 

 how hard they tried to be of use. 



At the shore lead we found a new pressure ridge through which 

 it took us several hours to make a road with pickaxes. A 

 few days before, this would have been all level, young ice two or 

 three miles in width that was now a conglomerate of broken frag- 

 ments several hundred yards across. That level ice would have 

 given us good sealing, but there would be none now until the 

 wind changed and the water opened. The only thing to do was to 

 go ashore and look for caribou. 



May 11th we reached land after traveling six hours over the 

 shore floe. The teams then proceeded another six miles along 

 shore while I hunted overland. So far as I recall, I did not see a 

 single blade of grass and the district struck me as the most barren 

 I had ever entered. There was not a track or trace of anything 

 for food, and it was a little hard to be cheerful that evening. 

 Noice could not walk, Knight apparently would not be able to 

 walk more than one or two days more, the dogs were getting more 

 tired every day, for latterly their food had been insufficient. We 

 had left for ourselves food for six days at half rations, which 

 was really food for three days. The dogs had food for about the 

 same length of time, consisting, however, entirely of wornout 

 boots and other skin clothing. It has often happened before that 

 we had to feed skin clothes to the dogs; in fact we recognize it 

 as one of the advantages of skins over woolens that they can be 

 eaten in emergencies. With fuel to cook them, skins are not dis- 

 agreeable unless one has too much imagination, for they are 

 merely tasteless — insipid is the least complimentary term they 

 deserve, if they have no hair on them. 



* We did not use our sled-boat because its canvas cover was now nearly 

 worn out. 



