OFF TO ELLESMERE LAND 285 



soundly when I arose and got my oil stove going, but 

 they were soon up, preparing the sledges for the ad- 

 vance. 



Again we came upon open water and were com- 

 pelled to turn a long distance out of our course to 

 get around it. However, the ice was in the finest 

 possible condition and we were able to cover in this 

 march twenty miles by the chart, though we halted 

 once to kill seals, a number of which were to be seen 

 on the ice, as we needed them badly for dog food. 

 I succeeded in getting two and the Eskimos brought 

 in five. 



At length we reached the head of Flagler Fjord 

 and left the ice for the land. High winds had swept 

 the rocks pretty clear of snow and traveling became, 

 therefore, exceedingly bad. The country was very 

 rough and we could see only a short distance ahead, 

 but there seemed small prospect of improvement. 

 There was so little snow, in fact, it soon became evi- 

 dent we should have to lighten our komatiks of every 

 pound we could spare from our equipment, dispens- 

 ing with everything not absolutely necessary to our 

 existence, even at the expense of comparative com- 

 fort. A small amount of tea and sugar and twenty- 

 five pounds of biscuits were retained. Among other 

 things, my oil stoves and oil were cached, and be- 

 yond this point I used the Eskimos' stone lamps to 

 do my cooking. 



Here we encountered the hottest day of the sea- 

 son thus far experienced. The thermometer regis- 

 tered at one time fifty-eight degrees above zero, 



