252 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



only once — by Captain Isachsen in 1901. Isachsen made 

 a hurried sledge trip around the island. The journey 

 took him about a week. In one place he saw some cari- 

 bou tracks and I think he may have seen some caribou at 

 a distance, but he did not try to hunt them. The next 

 visitors were my sledge party in 191 6 and on that occasion 

 we saw no caribou and had to feed ourselves and our dogs 

 entirely on seals. 



My second visit, and the third visit of human beings 

 to the island, was in 191 7. We were then on the most 

 dangerous adventure that has ever fallen to our lot. By 

 the road we had to travel we were some five hundred miles 

 away from the nearest Eskimos and six hundred miles 

 away from our own base camp. Four of us had been on 

 a long journey out on the moving sea ice to the northwest. 

 When we were more than a hundred miles northwest from 

 Isachsen Land, two of my three companions were taken 

 seriously ill. We turned towards shore immediately and 

 it was a hard fight to make land. When we got there 

 after a struggle of two weeks we found ourselves with one 

 man so sick that he could not walk, another who could 

 barely walk but was of no use otherwise, and with two 

 teams of dogs that were exhausted with hard work 

 and so thin from short rations during the forced march 

 towards shore that they were little more than skeletons. 

 It had been my pride through many years never to lose a 

 dog. Furthermore, I was e igly fond of every one 



of these do^s for they had worked for me faithfully for 

 years. I was concerned for their safety, and still more 

 concerned for the safety of the sick men. By that time, 

 however, my confidence in our ability to make a living 

 in the Arctic had become so strong througl it years 



of experience that I felt more worry for the lives of the 



