FAREWELL TO THE SHIPS 33 



had run into a fine herd of caribou ten miles back 

 from camp, and got all but three of them. Norton, 

 who soon joined us, had met with little better luck, 

 however, than I, having seen only a fawn, which he 

 killed. 



Caribou steaks were soon sizzling in the pan, and 

 over a sumptuous and appetizing meal, before turn- 

 ing in to sleep, we discussed our experiences and 

 agreed that the walking in this country, with its steep 

 mountains and loose stones, was as hard as any of 

 us had ever encountered. 



While Larned superintended the packing in of the 

 caribou meat and heads by the Eskimos, I investi- 

 gated, some distance away, a rookery of burgher- 

 master gulls. This is the largest and to my mind 

 the handsomest of the Arctic birds. I found them 

 in great numbers on the rocks, and watched them for 

 some time. 



When I finally returned to camp we at once pro- 

 ceeded to put everything in readiness for prompt de- 

 parture to the ship as soon as the packers came in 

 with their burdens; but the Eskimos were so weary 

 when they arrived that sleep was demanded before 

 they would consent to start, and when we did finally 

 get away the weather had turned raw and cold, with 

 squalls of snow and rain. 



Fortunately the Erik had moved to a position con- 

 siderably closer than where we left her, and anchored 

 near another Eskimo village, where she had come to 

 get the ivory tusks secured by natives in a recent suc- 

 cessful narwhal hunt. This ivory is of considerable 



