174 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
a lemming; we saw no bear tracks, old or new. As 
we went along under the high cliffs the wind at 
times would come sweeping down a gorge in terri¬ 
fic squalls that almost lifted us off our feet and 
whirled the snow down from the mountain-sides in 
huge drifts. This cloud of snow, constantly envel¬ 
oping the island, was the thing that had pre¬ 
vented us from seeing it on our way in from Ship¬ 
wreck Camp, until we were comparatively close 
to it. With the snow came myriad particles of 
sand and pieces of soft shale from the face of the 
cliff that cut like a knife. The dogs were pulling 
fairly well and we had no difficulty in getting 
along. At half past five we built our igloo and 
turned in. 
When we started again at dawn on the twentieth 
the northwest gale and the blinding snowdrift were 
still with us. We had camped only a few miles 
from Rodgers Harbor and after crossing the spit 
which forms the south side of the harbor we went 
on over the ice in the harbor and followed the shore 
around to find out definitely whether any one had 
made a landing there. There were no traces of 
man to be seen. 
It had been my intention to go as directly as 
possible from Rodgers Harbor across Long Strait 
to Cape North on the Siberian coast, but when we 
got out on the ice I found that on account of the 
