THREE WEEKS IN HUBBARD BAY 7 



Both from Hoyt island and from Inugsulik I had a full view 

 of the inland ice of Greenland, extending as a white band along 

 the eastern sky and discharging through the magnificent Hearst 

 glacier, with a front of 15 miles, casting off enormous icebergs, 

 which completely blocked Henderson bay and came slowly 

 trooping down in a stately procession to join the great muster of 

 their fellows in Baffin bay. Far above the glacier, a nunatak, 

 Mount Pepper, lifted its black head out of the inland ice. Long 

 crevasses on each side showed that the peak was part of a pre- 

 cipitous wall, over which the ice dropped in a cascade several 

 miles long. 



On White island, in the center of Hubbard bay, I found at 

 last the main object of my quest — Eskimo remains. There were 

 two houses beside a little lake on a low rocky spur projecting 

 westward, but the main settlement was on the east side, in a 

 most picturesque site, conspicuous afar by the vivid green of the 

 abundant vegetation. Like the Carthaginians, these ancient 

 Innuits had an outer and an inner harbor, separated by a ledge 

 of rocks, over which the tide flowed in and out. The inner 

 harbor was elliptic in outline and about 50 acres in extent. A 

 long knife-edge of rock protected the bays on the south, and so 

 high were the ridges and so deep the bays that the water must 

 remain unruffled in the fiercest storms, unless they come directly 

 from the east. On a level space between the two bays was the 

 settlement, a dozen houses, with graves scattered in among them 

 and along the foot of the hills. Directly behind was a fresh- 

 water lake, brown with decaying matter, but a second and larger 

 lake, some 30 feet higher, was clear and pure. A few graves 

 were also found on the south side. Stone fox-traps were scat- 

 tered all over the island. The eyes of my Eskimos beamed with 

 delight, for to them the snug harbor, the easy landing, the low, 

 level plateau, the freshwater lake within a stone's throw, in the 

 midst of such abundance of animal life, must have seemed a 

 paradise. Where the wave beat had exposed a section of the soil 

 it was seen to consist of a black mass, thickly interlarded with 

 bones of whale, walrus, narwhal, and seal. Evidently the gar- 

 bage question had not begun to vex the minds of these ancients. 

 So far as I could judge, the houses and graves had remained un- 

 touched since their builders departed, though Ryder mentions 

 remains on that island. The roofs had fallen in and the rich 

 humus had given rise to a rank vegetation of grass and moss, 

 which had deeply buried the houses, so that some of them could 



