112 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
W. and W. S. W., and from 25 to 30 miles wide, 
not including the large bare sandspits which extend 
a long way from the shore, as much as 12 miles in 
one place from the northern side, and rather more 
near the southwestern corner of the island. A 
range of hills extends completely round the coast, 
and a lower range traverses the centre of the island 
from east to west, the whole island in fact being 
a succession of hills, peaks and valleys. The 
highest point appeared to be Berry peak, near the 
centre of the island, about 2500 feet in height by 
barometric measurement.” 
On the twenty-second I sent Chafe and Wil¬ 
liams out to begin marking the landward trail with 
empty pemmican tins. Pemmican has been the 
staple article of food for polar expeditions for 
many years and contains, in small compass, the 
essentials adequate to support life. It is put up 
by various packing-houses, expressly for such 
needs as ours. I have lived for a hundred and 
twenty days on pemmican, biscuit and tea and 
found it amply sufficient. We had two kinds of 
pemmican; one, for ourselves, consisting of beef, 
raisins, sugar and suet, all cooked together and 
pressed, was packed in blue tins; the other, for the 
dogs, without the raisins and sugar, in red tins. 
I remember once, after a talk which I was giving 
on the North Pole trip, a lady came up to me and 
