110 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



program was practically carried out, although it developed that 

 Pedersen's knowledge of engineering when running the gasoline 

 launch in San Francisco had been confined to his ability to start 

 and stop an engine that was in perfect condition and to hoist a 

 distress signal when anything went wrong. Nothing went wrong 

 with the Edna, except that there was too much oil in her cylinders 

 and the "timing" of the electric spark was not quite right, but 

 these simple difficulties were not understood ; she could not be used 

 at all that summer, and Chipman had to do what work he could 

 with a whale-boat. This cut down the extensiveness of his work 

 by much more than half. The other launch with Cox in charge 

 did excellent work, for he himself was a good engineer, thanks 

 to which the aggregate of the work done by the two parties was 

 almost as great as I had hoped, including the sounding of one 

 channel with evidence that a ship drawing six feet of water can 

 enter the Mackenzie from the sea. This together with what we 

 know of the navigability above the delta shows that a ship draw- 

 ing six feet of water can steam fifteen hundred miles up the river 

 from the sea to the rapids at Fort Smith. 



In addition to buying the launches for the two survey parties, 

 I secured from the Mounted Police- a quantity of provisions which 

 were cached at strategic points in the delta, and made all necessary 

 arrangements for the prosecution of their work. 



