Amittok lake discharges at its northwestern extremity, by a river 
three-quarters of a mile long, into Takuirbing lake, a body 2 miles long and 
100 feet above sea-level. Rapids, at one point, can be avoided by portag- 
ing over the flat, valley floor on the southeastern side; lower down the 
trail is on the north side, along the base of a rocky hill. The valley is 
comparatively narrow. Takuirbing river is short and discharges into 
Nettilling lake. 
May 6 was overcast. On this day the extra Eskimo with their teams 
started on their return journey. Seven dogs were retained. A high 
snow wall was built about the two tents. All the freight was built into 
a compact cache on a dry, elevated table of rock and covered with a tar- 
paulin. For several weeks after arriving at Nettilling lake, cooking for 
the whole party was done with gasoline, but with the disappearance of 
the snow the natives depended entirely upon the white heather ( u Keeokta ”) 
for this purpose. 
The country at the head of Nettilling lake is very rough, abrupt hills 
and ridges alternating with narrow valleys and long, gentle slopes with 
here and there low tundra. The average altitude of the hills above Net- 
tilling lake (itself 85 feet above sea-level) is about 150 feet. Many isolated 
domes and ridges probably rise 250 feet. Small lakes are very numerous. 
For many days after the arrival at Nettilling lake the weather remained 
dull with occasional flurries of snow. Nights were cold and the temperature 
invariably fell below 32 degrees. As much as an inch of ice would form 
in a water bucket in a single night. During this period the Eskimo hauled 
to camp the freight that had been left at the head of Nettilling fiord. 
At the date Nettilling lake was reached, May 5, there were several 
open spots in Takuirbing river where the current was strongest. These 
openings probably had formed during the mild spell about April 20, The 
river is 300 yards long and falls 15 to 18 feet. The ice on it was about 30 
inches thick. On Nettilling lake the ice was estimated to be, on an average, 
around 7 feet thick. 
On May 6 small pools of water were observed in rock depressions on 
the tops of the hills, and thawed mud an inch deep was encountered on a 
slope with a southern exposure. In numerous places the snow was seen 
to be melting from around tufts of grass and heather. 
The night of May 12 turned wild and tempestuous, with driving snow. 
With only brief pauses the gale continued until May 20. 
On May 22 the noon temperature was 44 degrees. Small brooks and 
rills developed in myriads. The first frostless nights were those of May 
22 and 23. The end of the month was stormy. 
By June 1, patches of tundra were bare and a couple of hundred yards 
of open water ran in the nearby river. The temperature hovered around 
freezing-point much of early June. On most of the nights thin ice formed 
on the tundra pools. The first week of June brought the first observed 
development in the flora — principally the small velvet catkins of the dwarf 
Arctic willow. The louse wort, Pedicularis, was pushing up through the 
scanty soil of gravelly ridges that had been free of snow not more than 
ten days. But the first flower of the spring was the little purple saxifrage, 
Saxifraga oppositifolia . The plant is very small, grows in mats over rocky 
slopes, and bears a profusion of minute purple blossoms. By the middle 
of June patches of ground were covered with its colour. 
64460— 2J 
