TURNING KOGMOLLIK FOR SCIENCE 217 
September 7 we came to a bight in the shoreline which corresponds excellently with 
one on the map into which the map makers show that a large river empties, we 
concluded we had reached this river, R. la Ronciére. The formation of the coast 
simulated well the mouth of a large river. We all agreed that the river must have 
trees, or at least large willows, as all good-sized rivers do, which would mean game, 
and it seemed advisable to ascend it. The beach was covered with small spruce 
drift trees which promised well. I made an entry in my diary to the effect that 
“R. la Ronciére” differed from most Arctic rivers in that the Lord had put it in the 
same place as had pleased the map makers. 
We ascended and found, sure enough, a river — small, it is true, but we took it 
for one of the numerous delta channels of a large stream. We went for about five 
miles farther and came to a small lake. We know now that ‘R. la Ronciére” does 
not exist. It took us two days of fair weather to get back to the open sea again, and 
we finally reached Langton Bay September 13. 
At Langton Bay, Mr. Stefansson and the Eskimos hunted with little 
success. This was unfortunate because all were short of deerskins. Each 
person in the Arctics needs at least six deerskins for clothes and three for 
bedding; in fact a total of nine skins is rather short allowance. By the end 
of October, considerable anxiety began to be felt concerning the where- 
abouts of Dr. Anderson who in August had started east in a small boat 
along the coast, leaving at Herschel Island, boxed and ready for shipment, 
all specimens collected up to that date. Eventually Mr. Stefansson and his 
Eskimo started out to find him, first building a log house with an open fire- 
place where the Eskimo woman could stay to protect a cache of twenty- 
two deer. Travelling was difficult but they reached the coast fifty miles 
west from Langton Bay by November 18. Here they found on the beach 
an old whale carcass, probably four years old, and spent a day getting a 
sled-load of blubber before proceeding. They had gone on only a day’s 
journey when they were rejoiced to meet Dr. Anderson with his six Eskimo 
assistants. The whole party returned to the beach where the frozen whale 
was and spent the day getting another load of blubber and in talking over 
the situation. 
Dr. Anderson had been traveling under unusual difficulties because 
having a large party of assistants to make possible the transportation of 
supplies and collecting equipment. He says respecting this, “Turning 
Kogmollik has its disadvantages as well as its advantages. Alone I could 
shoot more game than I drew out of the pot and still have much leisure 
time for other work. There was certain work to be done, however, which 
I could not handle alone and diplomatic reasons compelled me to become 
a communist out and out. This meant a hand to mouth existence for a 
time with so many to be fed, some worry, and much hard work, but 
brought my boat and goods to the place where they had to be.”’ 
The matter of assistants in the Arcties is a large problem. To hire an 
