62 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



On June 19 we left the McWilliams Shipyard, West Brighton, 

 Staten Island, arriving at Brigus the first week in July. Here David 

 Nutt and Ray Hellman collected birds. At our next stop in Labrador, 

 birds and plants were collected, and the freshwater pools were searched 

 for fish and smaller creatures of various kinds. 



While we did not encounter ice in crossing from Labrador to 

 Godhavn, Greenland, we were always near it. and when the visibility 

 is poor, a thermometer is to the mariner what the trained dog, or 

 "Seeing Eye," is to a blind man. Coming north over the West Green- 

 land fishing banks, we saw many Portuguese and French fishing 

 vessels, but there were no cod because of the nearness of the west 

 coast ice. 



We stayed a few hours at Godhavn, only long enough to get fresh 

 water and fill our oil tanks from the barrels carried on deck. Governor 

 Rosendahl, as usual, did all he could to make our visit a success. Here 

 again David had a chance for some collecting. 



As the National Museum was very anxious to obtain specimens of 

 young and female narwhals, of which they had none in their collec- 

 tions, we persuaded several natives to go hunting with us in Inglefield 

 Gulf. Two females and one young were taken, also two males, of 

 which the larger had a tusk 7 feet long. It is the largest narwhal ever 

 to come to the National Museum. They are most interesting animals, 

 with their long tusk, which is an enormous, spirally elongated develop- 

 ment of a tooth. This tusk is apparently of no particular service to 

 the animal, and being very brittle, it snaps off easily whenever it 

 strikes anything hard. 



In Smith Sound we obtained our two walrus pups, and also had the 

 good fortune to pick up skulls of three females which the Museum 

 was glad to have for study purposes. Looking for the herd consumed 

 much time. Once the pups were on board, we built a large wooden 

 tank, caulking it to make it tight, so that the little fellows would have 

 plenty of clean salt water. We gave them all the fish, milk, and meat 

 they could stand. Keeping them in plenty of salt water where they 

 could swim about and dive for their food was good for them. They 

 were a joy to have and gave us lots of fun. 



Around Cape Alexander, Greenland, and in Murchison Sound we 

 used the otter trawl, and so obtained a great deal of marine life from 

 the sea floor. Trawling is a fascinating operation. All our boys were 

 enthusiastic about it, especially when the net arrived on deck. 



Our farthest north was a few miles south of Cape Sabine. From 

 Cape Sabine to Cairn Point the ice was in large, heavy, unbroken 

 sheets 



