THREE WEEKS IN HUBBARD BAY 



HI, ('RACK BEHIND ANCIENT ESKIMO IGLOO, RICHARDSON ISLAND, HUBBARD BAY 



only be traced by the quadrangular swellings of the sod. To 

 my disappointment, the bones in the graves were all confusedly 

 jumbled together, so that it was impossible to make out a com- 

 plete skeleton. As each grave contained several skulls, the dis- 

 order was doubtless due to the fact that the bones of earlier 

 skeletons had been moved aside to make room for new arrivals. 

 While I was engaged in the task of spoliation the fog turned 

 into rain, converting the mold into a slimy paste, in which frag- 

 ments of decayed bones or other material could no longer be 

 distinguished. Fearing to spoil the material of a future and 

 better equipped expedition, which the locality riclily deserves, 

 I decided to content myself with the spoils of two graves. 



On Richardson island, one of the two low islands south of 

 White island, the graves had been opened, probably by whalers, 

 and the bones scattered about. Of two houses at the water's 

 edge, all but the back wall had been washed away. I was at 

 first disposed to attribute this to subsidence, but wide and deep 

 cracks in the soil showed that the whole mass of peat and muck 

 was slowly sliding seaward. 



Similar remains were found on Porter island and (sadly plun- 

 dered) at Wilcox head, and the Eskimos saw others on the 



