5^4 CHALLENGER 



bags, the deerskin rugs and all the clothes they wore. The edge 

 of the sea ice came slowly nearer to the coast during April, and 

 it was not uncommon to break through the ice when travelling 

 along the heads of the coves where fresh-water streams were 

 coming down. Occasionally a sharp frost during the night would 

 improve conditions for a few hours, but a thin film of ice would 

 form over the water lying on the sea ice and through this the 

 dogs' feet would break at every step making them dance like cats 

 on hot bricks and laming them for days to come. No, nobody 

 who travelled felt well disposed towards the spring. 



The seals were beginning to come up through the holes ap- 

 pearing in the sea ice, where they lay close to the openings. The 

 dogs had fared badly in recent weeks and whenever these seals 

 were seen attempts were made to stalk and shoot them either from 

 behind the 'billy caters' or by crawling out over the bare ice, clad 

 in white and protected by a white vertical screen pushed ahead 

 of the crawler. But time and time again the seals became alert 

 and dived into the holes, and even when wounded they sometimes 

 managed to slither in before the hunters running across the ice 

 could get to them. Eventually, however, patience was rewarded 

 and, on such occasions, the dogs fed well. 



In early May it became necessary to lash a boat on top of each 

 komatik and in this all the camp and surveying gear was stowed, 

 so that in the event of breaking through or having to cross deep 

 water lying on the sea ice, the komatik and the 'flat', as the boat 

 was called, would keep afloat. It was a peculiar experience for 

 the travellers to sit in the bows of a boat, the surrounding water 

 being above the top of the komatik, while they looked ahead at 

 the wading dogs towing this amphibian. 



So with their faces covered in vaseline, their clothes sodden 

 and their tempers frayed, the party worked on through the spring, 

 more coastline being plotted, more topography being mapped as 

 the outline picture of the coast grew and grew in readiness for 

 the ship's return, when she would complete the work by sounding 

 out the runs, the bays and the deep-water channels leading to the 

 open sea. 



On 2 2nd May the last survey camp of the winter was established, 

 this time in a trapper's hut on Bridges Run. The brooks and the 

 runs were opening up and every day detours to avoid open water 



