I9II] KAYAKS BUILT 95 
keeps fairly open. The whole shore since the last gale is 
piled with enormous blocks of ice, 15 to 20 feet square, and 
as many of them are glacier ice we find them most useful 
for our drinking water. 
One of the problems of our spring journey along the 
coast is how we are going to get back if the ice goes out, or 
even get over the big lanes that are sure to open in the 
spring, so I have decided to bitild two kayaks, by making 
canvas boats to fit round the sledges ; these can be carried 
on the sledges when travelling over the ice and the sledge 
fitted in them when crossing open water. 
April ly. — The first kayak was finished last Thursday 
and the canvas dressed with hot blubber, but owing to a 
week of winds we had not been able to try her until to-day. 
She proved a great success. I made the first cruise in her 
along the north shore, using a bamboo as a paddle ; she 
was not at all crank and carried me easily. We will build 
another, so that by lashing the two together we should 
have a very seaworthy craft. 
May 2.— A lovely day, and as the second kayak was 
ready we tried her. I have given her more freeboard 
than the last, and she is, if anything, more seaworthy. 
The temperature, which had been steadily dropping all 
last month, is now at about -f F., very pleasant in calm 
weather, but in the winds most of us have had our faces 
frostbitten. 
It is wonderful how quickly the time is passing. I 
suppose it is our regular routine, and the fact of all having 
plenty to do. 
Levick is photographer, microbiologist, and stores 
