234 



THE ARCTIC PRAIRIES 



' »"l /A — — ^ 



Musk-ox tracks, male. 

 August 18, 1907 



of a Musk-ox that weighed nine hundred pounds in 

 life and stood five feet high at the shoulders — a world's 

 record in point of size. 



Now we must camp perforce to save the specimen. 

 Measurements, photos, sketches, and weights were 

 needed, then the skinning and preparing would be a 



heavy task for all. In the 

 many portages after- 

 wards the skull was part 

 of my burden ; its weight 

 was actually forty pounds, 

 its heaviness was far 

 over a hundred. 

 What extraordinary luck we were having. It was 

 impossible in our time limit to reach the summer haunt 

 of the Caribou on the Arctic Coast, therefore the Cari- 

 bou came to us in their winter haunt on the Artillery 

 Lake. We did not expect to reach the real Musk-ox 

 country on the Lower Back River, so the Musk-ox 

 sought us out on Aylmer Lake. And yet one more 

 piece of luck is to be recorded. That night something 

 came in our tent and stole meat. The next night 

 Billy set a trap and secured the thief — ^an Arctic Fox 

 in summer coat. We could not expect to go to him 

 in his summer home, so he came to us. 



While the boys were finishing the dressing of the 

 bull's hide, I, remembering the current from the last 

 bay, set out on foot over the land to learn the reason. 

 A couple of miles brought me to a ridge from which I 

 made the most important geographical discovery of 

 the journey. Stretching away before me to the far 



