42 CHALLENGER 



camp the weather at once deteriorated ; the barometer would fall 

 and the wind and the drifting snow would rise, making travelling 

 conditions impossible; and so, with the komatiks loaded and 

 everything ready to go, the party sat impatiently day after day 

 in the base camp. 



It was during such a period that something happened which 

 altered all the immediate plans for the survey. On the night of 

 2 ^th January Clarke came to see the party and brought with him 

 a certain Mr. Smith, the Hudson Bay trader from Nutak, some 

 £o miles north of Nain. After two hours of small talk, when they 

 were about to leave, Clarke said that Smith would like to see 

 Buck alone and so they went out into the porch together. Here 

 Smith came straight to the point, asking for Baker's help to quell 

 disturbances which had been going on at the H.B.C. post at 

 Hebron, and which Massie, the trader there, was unable to 

 control. The Eskimos at Hebron were said to be a tough crowd 

 and were a bit of a mixture of a number of families who had 

 settled there. 



What Smith wanted Baker to do was to travel north to Hebron 

 with Clarke and himself and arrest an Eskimo named Renatus 

 Tuglavina, who they said was the ringleader of the trouble- 

 makers. Baker did not like this idea and said so, pointing out that 

 he had no authority on the coast and really could not act on such 

 vague evidence. He did say, however, that after the next survey 

 camp he might travel north to Hebron and see for himself what 

 was happening and bade Smith and Clarke good-night. He did not 

 sleep well, turning over and over in his mind what should be 

 done. He did not wish to arrive at Hebron either with the 

 Hudson Bay Company people or with the missionary, although 

 he was sure that Mr. Grubb would be willing to go. Baker felt 

 that the Navy should not appear to be the power behind either of 

 these two, and that if he went to Hebron he should go alone. 



He decided that Dennis, Bingham and Stevenson should 

 accompany him and that they should slip away quietly for Hebron, 

 where their surprise arrival might do much to steady the Eskimos 

 there. The tents had already been pitched for the next survey 

 camp and, as these would now be required on the journey north, 

 a party was sent out to bring them in, while at the base prepara- 



