WE LAND ON WRANGELL ISLAND 163 
had left there. While they were gone I sent Ker- 
drillo nine miles across the lagoon to Berry Spit, 
to see if he could find any traces of the mate’s party 
or the Mackay party. He took his rifle with him to 
look for game. When he came back at nightfall, 
he reported that he had seen no traces of either 
party and only one bear track and one fox track. 
This was an indication that there was small chance 
of getting a bear on or near the island, because 
there were no seal holes within twenty-five miles 
from land; we had seen some near the big rafter, 
about forty miles out. Later in the season, as the 
ice broke up nearer the land, the seal would work 
in shore and of course the bears would follow. I 
asked Kerdrillo what he thought the chances were 
of there being any caribou or reindeer on the island. 
It is not an uncommon thing to find caribou on 
islands in Hudson Strait, which have drifted on 
the ice from the mainland, and there were, I knew, 
both these animals in plenty on the Siberian coast. 
I wondered, too, whether there might not be Arctic 
hare on the island. Kerdrillo said he thought there 
was so much snow that caribou and reindeer would 
be unlikely to stay where it would be so difficult 
for them to get food and he did not believe any 
were to be found. 
The next day, to verify his opinion, I sent him 
out again, giving him tea and pemmican, so that he 
