THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 633 



The soundings turned out to be strikingly similar to the ones 

 taken on our ice journey north of Borden Island. Seven miles 

 from shore we got four hundred and eleven meters and all the way 

 across the sound the depth varied slightly up and down, with a 

 maximum of five hundred and two meters near the middle, which 

 happened to be the exact depth of the last sounding taken on the 

 ice journey a hundred and twenty-five miles northwest of Cape 

 Isachsen. Were we at that time in the middle of a sound some- 

 what wider than Melville Sound? We think it likely but only 

 further exploration can tell. 



Crossing Melville Sound was no more fun than we thought it 

 was going to be. The water channels were deep, the dogs swam 

 and the sleds floated. The rounded hummocks were slippery and 

 we hardty dared to climb on them out of the water for fear the 

 sleds might slide sidewise and be upset, and we had to keep hold 

 of the dogs to restrain them from scrambling out of the icy water 

 and up on the protruding knobs of ice. Part of the time it rained 

 and on July 21st my diary says that we had the heaviest rain 

 I had ever seen in the Arctic. 



Occasionally there would be stretches of a few miles where all 

 the thaw water had run off into a neighboring lead or crack. This 

 was good traveling in being nearly level and nearly dry but the 

 ice needles were sharp as knives. They made holes in our boots 

 and lacerated the feet of our dogs. A new pair of our ugrug-soled 

 boots would have been good for perhaps a week or two of this 

 sort of walking without patching, but the dogs' boots of thin 

 canvas used to wear out in half a day, and even with the closest 

 watching one dog or another would get footsore. Those that worked 

 the hardest would get sore the quickest, for a dog that is hauling 

 with all his strength steps twice as hard upon the needle points 

 as one that is merely walking. 



One of our best dogs was Sapsuk. He had belonged to Captain 

 Bernard's team and was a favorite not only with the Captain but 

 with Thomsen who drove him later, and in fact with any one who 

 knew him. Now his feet were sorer than those of any other dog, 

 so we slipped him from his harness and allowed him to follow 

 behind. Later other dogs became footsore and eventually there 

 were four of them loose, following behind. Sapsuk kept close to 

 the sleds but some of the others would lag a mile. 



One day when Victoria Island was already in sight we were 

 traveling along with Sapsuk following behind. I was ahead as 

 usual and noticed a polar bear coming from the direction of Banks 



