DOWN THE MACKENZIE j^q 



could not leave their post; there were no Eskimos to be hired, 

 so that I was obliged to go alone if I visited the mainland. 



There were only a few species of birds to be found about the 

 station. I was desirous of securing specimens of ptarmigan in 

 summer plumage, but there were none to be found upon the 

 island, where they had been abundant during the winter. 



It rained or snowed frequently and continual fogs made out- 

 door work very unpleasant. Two days after the departure of 

 the vessels there was not a cake of ice left in the harbor, but 

 the ice field was unbroken west of the island. 



On the 19th I started for the mainland in a heavy dingy. I 

 had to reef the leg-o'-mutton sail before the steady breeze which 

 was carrying me rapidly toward the point of the island. To 

 my consternation I discovered after an hour's sailing that the 

 ice floes had gathered along shore, forming a barrier three or 

 four hundred yards in width; and a field of solid ice prevented 

 me from sailing within a quarter of a mile of the point. I was 

 being driven into a pocket from which it was impossible to 

 beat my way in the flat-bottomed dingy. There was nothing 

 to do but run into the tossing and grinding floes and at least 

 make my own escape, if the boat should be crushed. Running 

 in between two floes, each about twenty yards in diameter, I 

 succeeded in getting the bow of the boat upon one of them 

 before it was nipped. After two hours' hard work I reached 

 the beach, having to cut footholes and drag the boat over the 

 ice one end at a time. I had landed at the debouchure of a little 

 coulee, twenty yards in width, in the bottom of which there 

 was sufficient driftwood for fuel. On each side the overhang- 

 ing walls of snow and ice rose to a height of sixty feet. The 

 next day showed no change in the condition of the ice. I could 

 not launch the boat, so the day was spent in examining the 

 abandoned Eskimo village at the southern point of the island. 

 The remains of two other ancient settlements exist at the harbor 

 and at the southwestern extremity of the island. The wretched 

 hovels, built of driftwood, covered with earth, stood on the 

 low, sandy beach. After the departure of the few families 

 which had occupied them the previous winter, the huts had 

 filled with snow through the open roofs. The floor was of 

 earth, the walls of unhewn logs. The low entrance-ways were 

 caving in and filled with water or ice. 



