WE ARE FROZEN IN 
n 
tains, the northernmost range of the Rockies, the 
backbone of the continent. 
There was very little alteration in the ship’s po¬ 
sition until August 26 when, with a light north 
wind, the ice moved a few miles to the westward, 
carrying us with it. The next day we had a heavy 
snowstorm with wind from the east and we moved 
still farther west; the next day we drifted westward 
again, and the next and the next, and for a good 
many days, sometimes a knot an hour, sometimes 
faster, parallel to the land but six or seven miles 
away from it. At times we could see lanes of open 
water, but they were always too far way for us 
to reach with our imprisoned vessel. Yet nearer 
the land the water was open and, so far as we could 
tell from where we were, no ship would have ex¬ 
perienced much difficulty in making her way along 
there in either direction. If we had used all our 
dynamite we could have broken a pathway for 
about a quarter of a mile but no farther and, as 
the open water was much farther away than that, 
there was obviously no use in trying the experi¬ 
ment. 
Meanwhile, by August 22, Stefansson had de¬ 
cided to send Beuchat and Jenness ashore, to make 
their way eastward and join the southern party in 
the event of our not getting any nearer Herschel 
Island. In fact, besides the two anthropologists, 
