KATAKTOVICK AND I START 
173 
early in the season and we had to go through a good 
deal of loose ice; by and by the bow struck a piece 
of ice and sprang a-leak. I had about sixty-five 
pounds of these biscuit on board; we built a dam 
up in the bow and put the biscuit in it; when they 
got well saturated with the incoming water they 
made a kind of cement wall that stopped the leak 
and saved the day. So now when I found that our 
tea-boiler was leaking, I remembered these boyhood 
experiences, and chewing up a small piece of the 
ship’s biscuit which we had with us-1 plastered it 
over the bottom of the boiler and we were able to 
use it without further difficulty. 
At the first crack of dawn the next morning, we 
broke camp, had our breakfast and started on our 
way again. The wind was still blowing a gale 
from the northwest and the snow drifted around 
us, as it had the day before. We followed along 
the shore, keeping a sharp lookout for traces of the 
lost parties. Little or no driftwood was to be seen 
along here; in fact, high cliffs came down to the 
water’s edge and left no beach for driftwood to 
lodge. At 11 a. m. we passed Hooper Cairn, 
which was built by a party from the IT. S. Revenue- 
cutter Corwin in August, 1881. The cairn, as I 
could see, was still intact, though I did not go up 
on the edge of the cliff to examine it. The only 
animal life that we saw all day was a raven and 
