240 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



DIFFICULT TRAVEL WITH BULKY SLED-LOADS OF SUPPLIES, EQUIPMENT AND 



COLLECTIONS 



We left Tuktuyaktok October 17 [1909], and have been compelled to follow the coastline 

 very closely all the way. open water and dangerous tliin ice off shore preventing us from 

 crossing bays and inlets, and deep, soft snow making inland travel impracticable. Our 

 Eskimo sleds were heavily loaded with equipment and collections, necessary supplies and 

 heavy frozen fish for dog food. 



We camped November 2, about two miles north of Kublurak (the outlet of Eskimo 

 lakes into southwest corner of Liverpool Bay), and the next day crossed a deep estuary, seven 

 or eight miles wide at the mouth of a large river known as the Kugalluk (the western 

 mouth of the Anderson River) . We crossed in a blinding snowstorm and were stopped near 

 the eastern side by a strip of very thin ice, from one himdred to two hundred yards wide. 

 We followed the edge of this lead south for about half a mile and barely succeeded in crossing 

 a lead about seventy-five yards wide, rushing the sleds across singly although the ice bent in 

 deep undulations. 



SOME HABITS OF POLAR BEARS 



We (Billy, Pikalo and myself) left Horton River on the morning of November 23, [1909] 

 to get a large number of needed articles still cached in an old house near the wreck of the 

 steam whaler "Alexander" at Cape Parry. The thermometer stood at thirty-one degrees 

 below zero and a gale was blowing from west-northwest, with snow drifting everywhere, 

 but as the wind was a little abaft, we made good time. We expected to reach Langton 

 Bay in one "sleep" so took only six small fish with us — one apiece for supper and the 

 same for breakfast. However next day the wind increased, blowing all the ice away from 

 the beach, necessitating much hard pulling over bare ground and sand-covered snow. 

 November 25 we were unable to travel at all, and we reached the Langton Bay cache in the 

 evening of the twenty-sixth after a fast of sixty hours. 



We reached the cache near the wreck of the "Alexander" on December 3. Polar bears 

 had broken into the house and devoured four boxes (about 500 pounds) of whale blubber 

 (all our dog food), two slabs of bacon, overturned and spiUed a ten-gallon can of alcohol 

 (all we had left), and knocked things about generally. Bears had also cleaned out a cache 

 of Ugyuk (bearded seal) meat and blubber which Stefansson had made some distance down 

 the fiord. 



WILD GEESE AND WHISTLING SWANS IN THE COPPERMINE REGION 



The first goose of the season (Anser albifmns gambeli) appeared at Kittigaryuit May 5 

 [1910], but no great numbers were seen mitil May 27. The American white-fronted, Hutchins's 

 and lesser snow geese were most abundant at first, while later the black brant came in great 

 flocks. Whistling swans were also fairly common. 



THE NESTING OF BLACK BRANTS 



Just before leaving my spring quarters, I accompanied a native named Kalakotak on 

 a sled trip up the coast after goose eggs. We started on the thirteenth of June [1910], and 

 had very hard traveling through deep water and slushy snow on the ice of the estuary. About 

 a hundred pair of black brant were nesting on little islands in a series of shallow lakes or 

 ponds about three-fourths of a mile from the coast. Two or three nests contained four eggs 

 each, but the great majority contained two. Three or four nests of glaucous gulls were also 

 found. 



SUMMER IN THE MACKENZIE DELTA 



Snow buntings were observed carrying feathers, and Lapland longspiu-s' nests were 

 found with incomplete sets of eggs. We returned on the sixteenth (Jime, 1910] finding travel- 

 ing much better as most of the snow had disappeared, and water had run down tlu-ough 

 cracks, leaving a smooth surface of solid ice five or six feet thick l)Ut rapidly disintegrating 

 into sharp prismatic needles. Travel was rapid Ijut exceedingly hard on the dogs' feet, which 

 had to be protected by boots, or often rtswrappcd in calico. Sailing from Kittigaryuit on 

 June 19, three days brought ils from the ice fields into the almost tropical heat of the Mac- 

 kenzie delta proper. Mosquitoes were abundant and on the twenty-second I found a robin's 

 nest with four young birds. The season seemed to be fully a month further advanced than 

 it was twenty-flve or thirty miles north. Yellow warblers {Dendroica osstii-a) were seen on 



