26 
was left for cape Dorset. The temperature was now as high as 22 degrees 
above zero. Progress was slow and camp was made at the entrance to 
Amadjuak bay, 18 miles from the post. The country bordering the coast 
is rugged, though few hills exceed 700 feet in height. 
During the next two days, progress was slow. A tent was pitched at 
nigliT instead of building an igloo. The temperature during day time 
ranged between 30 and 34 degrees. The Eskimo' encampment on Tikoot 
islands, not far west of Jubilee and Diamond islands, was reached in the 
evening of May 16. It being learnt that the sea was open westward it 
was decided to make use of a large whale boat which, fortunately, was 
available at Tikoot. On May 17, sleds, dogs, and equipment were loaded 
on the boat, and, with two additional men, the journey westward was 
continued. Though considerable trouble was caused by floating ice and 
tidal currents, good progress was made. 
On May 18, after continuing in the boat for some distance, a landing 
was made on the ice and the boat hauled up on an island where camp was 
pitched. 
On May 19 the journey was continued by sledge, the two Tikoot 
Eskimo accompanying the party. A blizzard arising, it was necessary 
to camp early in the day. On May 20 a start w T as made at 3 a.m. (the 
sun rose not long after midnight). In the forenoon the Hudson's Bay 
Company's post at cape Dorset was reached. 
Through the kindness of Mr. Aitken, postmaster, quarters were 
provided in the post. 
The morning temperatures for the last ten days of May ranged between 
20 and 58 degrees. Most days were sunny and the snow began to melt 
rapidly. May 29th was gloomy with squalls of rain; the temperature, 24 
degrees. The following forenoon was clear and the temperature 58 degrees. 
During the first week of June bright days prevailed, with temperatures 
between 34 and 58 degrees. The snow melted rapidly. The only sign 
of budding vegetation was the small, woolly catkins of the dwarf Arctic 
willow. Snow still lay deep on the land, except for small, detached areas 
of brown upland, or tundra valley. 
The first bloom of that earliest of Arctic flowers, the purple saxifrage 
( Saxifraga oppositifolia ) was observed on June 6. Inland the date is 
earlier. On this same clay the first butterfly was seen. 
June 12 was thickly overcast, with squalls of snow; the temperature 
was 38 degrees. For a week the weather remained overcast, with many 
gales and also squalls of snow, sleet, and rain. 
Islands are very numerous along the coast, but terminate to the west 
in the group known as Fox islands. Most of them are low and rounded. 
The mainland north of Fox islands is a land of gently rolling hills seldom 
exceeding 100 feet in height, but in the vicinity of cape Dorset the general 
level abruptly rises. This is Kingnait to the natives — the land of big 
hills. According to information received from the Eskimo, this hilly tract 
occupies only the southwestern corner of Foxe land. In places the hills 
rise abruptly from the sea to about 800 to 1,000 feet and are characterized 
by steep slopes, sheer cliffs, and deep, narrow valleys. At a little height 
above sea-level the region is poor in vegetation, or completely barren. 
The coast is marked by innumerable bays and deep, narrow fiords. Cape 
Dorset proper is separated from the mainland at high tide by four or five 
narrow channels. At low tide, bars connect these several islands. 
