THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 475 



and ten or more miles deep. He traveled into this bay, following 

 the west side of it according to directions, but failed to find the 

 McClure monument and other remains of the Investigator. Ten 

 miles in he discovered that it had the character of the mouth of a 

 considerable river, filled with mud flats and low islands. This 

 together with the absence of all traces of people convinced him 

 that he was not in Mercy Bay. Nevertheless, he turned back, 

 making a depot at the bay's mouth. He had already found the 

 coast so different from what was indicated by the Admiralty chart 

 that he thought it better to return for orders. He was also short of 

 dog feed. There had appeared a band of six or eight caribou but 

 he and Martin, being inexperienced, were unable to get them. 



As the New Land survey could later be carried indefinitely into 

 the summer we took plenty of time to explore the different Banks 

 Island valleys for whatever we could learn. We incidentally killed 

 many caribou and lived sumptuously, also feeding the dogs so 

 well as to keep them in excellent condition. We were somewhat 

 delayed by exceptionally bad ice conditions. There was much 

 snow and a road had to be made occasionally with pick-axes. 



At this time of year cow caribou in places where I have been 

 on the mainland of North America would be entirely devoid of 

 fat, but here they still had some back fat. We did not now kill 

 any bulls but at other times they have been fatter in Banks Island 

 than caribou are at corresponding seasons three or four hundred 

 miles farther south. This emphasizes a consideration that should 

 be obvious but is frequently overlooked, and sometimes the oppo- 

 site is assumed. The reindeer is an arctic animal as truly as the 

 giraffe is a tropical one. Either animal flourishes best in the en- 

 vironment to which it is particularly adapted. A fish does not 

 prosper on land nor a cow in the vv^ater; a giraffe would probably 

 find difficulty in maintaining himself in the temperate zone, and so 

 apparently do northern caribou. At any rate, it has been our 

 experience that in general caribou are fatter and appear to find 

 conditions more congenial the farther north they go. This does 

 not mean that they are more numerous to the square mile in the 

 islands than they are on the mainland. That would be impossible 

 because of the rocky character of the islands. Then, too, wolves 

 become so numerous in the arctic archipelago that caribou are 

 nearly exterminated from certain islands. In this respect there 

 are no doubt years of ebb and flow in the caribou population. 

 When the caribou become too few the wolves must move out or 

 die of hunger, for there are no other animals in these regions from 



