238 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



safe on one of these floes as on the land itself. The floe which 

 we camped on is one of the heaviest that we have seen, the 

 hummock on it being about 30 feet high at the very edge. We 

 were pleased to camp, but our spirits fell considerably when 

 we found out that we had lost our food bag, containing four 

 pounds of butter and some other small things, during the day's 



CURING " MACK " OF HIS FEAR OF THE WATER. 



march. It must have slid out from underneath the lashings, 

 and there is no telling how far it may be away. Of course we 

 are sorry, and the only remedy is to stretch our ration a little 

 so as to make up for our loss. 



In spite of all our trouble with the open water and rough 

 ice we have made about ten miles E.S.E., which is by no 

 means bad. The latitude observed at noon was 71 31' N., 

 which shows that there has not been much drift during the last 

 few days, but the wind has been blowing from the west, and it is 

 our experience that even if we do not drift eastward we are at 

 least stationary. 



Lat. at camping time 71 28' N., long. 148 45' W. (D.R.). 

 Temperature at start 20 C., at noon 19 C. Wind 

 W.S.W., eight to ten miles an hour, and weather fine. 



Friday, April 19. Left camp in fine weather and had some 



