The Portland daily press., 1894-10-06

| knew that to cover the twenty-four miles
between our present camp and the moraine
| we must be relieved from this annoyance
| by travelling at night. We therefore re-
NAMED in this camp twenty hree hours,
Then, leaving the three-runner sledge and
| attaching the twenty-five remaining dogs
(bg.kessuh having died during the night
| to the long sledge on which was packed
nothing but our tent, cooking apparatus,
and sleeping gear, we began the last stage
| of our retreat
| About mile and quarter from camp we
came upon one of the bamboo mile posts on
| the trail from the moraine to the cache ig-
loos, and taking up the familiar course
from this to Pigeon Camp, We passed other
| poles and tent sites, and SO on downward,
with the ice caps Radcliffe Peninsula and
those between Inglet1eld Gulf an Olriks
Bay, graually climbing above the edge of
the ice cap ahead of u.s.
ABREAST of Pigeon Camp we found the sur
race of the ice cap secured and tortured in
1 to FRO Zen waves of such size and ragged
ness as to be impossible for the sledge, the
crests of waves constantly catching on the
crossbars. We were now only six miles
from the moraine, SO the dogs were de-
| tached from the sledge and divided among
the boys, while l went ahead. We passed
on down to the moraine camp, which we
reached at 7o'clock in the morning. Here 1
left the boys TO rest and take a nap and
hurried down the valley to the lodge to
] get hot drink and stimulant in readiness for
them against their arrival. l reached An
| n1Versary Lodge about o'clock,
THE CLOTHING OF THE PARTY.
| wish to give some details of the clothing
we wore during the six weeks we were on
the inland ice. The costume of each men,
Der OF the party was as follows:
First, woollen underwear, varying from
light weight jaeger combination suit
worn by myself, to a suit of heavy woollen
| shirt and drawers and two woollen sweat
ers, worn by Baldwin.
Second, pair of fur trousers worn with
| the fur outside, those of Baldwin. Entri-
KIN, Clark, and Davidson being of bear
skin; those of Astrup, DR.. Vincent, and
Lee of dogskin, ard NY own of deerskin.
though l should have much preferred dog
skin could 1 have obtained it.
Third, hooded deerskin shirt of the
| summer doeskin, made large enough 10 he
worn over the trousers; and worn with ths
| fur inside.
Fourth, a hooded deerskin coat, made of
| the winter dee rAsin and worn with he fur
outside.
| Fifth, heavy woollen stockings.
! Sixth, kammicks Eskimo boots land doe-
| skin OF deerskin moccasins, large enough
to be worn, fur inside, over the kammcks
! seventh, woolien. deerksin, dogskin. or
| sealskin mittens
This costume was practically the same as
! that which was found to be SO satisfacfo
ry by Astrup and myself two years earlier.
with the exception that it comprised an adj
oltlonai garment, named, the deerskin IN
dershlrt. With this costume and an ad
| dltlonal thickness of deerskin over the feet
and legs up to the knees, found it possible
TO be entirely comfortable lying directly
upon the snow in Temperatures as low as --5l
! degrees Fair. Neither did l experience
any mishap to face or nose when sleepine
In these temperatures other than the in
| convenience of having the face opening Of
| the kooletah almost completely closed ;,t
| times by the ice formed by the condensa-
| ton of the breath. Ny hands we're entirely
safe, as they well as my arms were with
drawn entirely from my sleeves and folded
across my breast inside of both dee1 skin
! garments
THE EQUIPMENT.
The equipment was in general much the
same as that had taken two years earlier
1t was, however, more extensive SO as to
| meet the needs of the larger party, and
tie Instrumental and culinary depart
ments were of necessity in duplicate and
t1iplicate. to meet the requirements of
three separate parties.
Our sledges were all double-enders but no
two were precisely alike, full swing having
been given TO the mechanical ability of
Entrikin and Astrup during the winter In
the construction of these Arctic vehicles.
Our sleeping gear was of three kinds.
namely; Iwo-man bags, one-man bags and
sleeping boots and trousers combined.
there being two Of each kind in the equip
ment. | had hoped and expected, owing to
the perfection of the costumes and sleen
ing bags, that We would be able to dis
pense with the extra weight and labor con-
nected with the use o. tent AS a pre-
caution, however, started with light
.protean' tent, which had been on the ice
cap during the winter. Should it prove
supertuous l could easily leave it by the
way. while should it be essential it could
be retained permanently. The experience
of the first week on the ice cap showed that
it was not advisable to be without il. and
thinking it would be folly to abandon 1t
1t therefore remained a permanent item OF
our equipment.
CHARA CTER OF THE INLAND ICE.
The character OF the inland ice as far as
we tarversed it was entirely in accordance
with what l had anticipated Beginning at
the moraine camp on the edge of the ice cap
2,340 feet above sea level, the surface of
the inland ice rises rapidly fol- two miles
aud half. then less rapidly for four miles
further in, then for distance of some
twenty miles it is slightly undulating.
Thence it ase ends by a series of long and
gradually rising terraces to the divide be.
tween Kane Basin ana Whale Sound,
whence it extends, a practically level
plain, over 800 feet above the sea north
eastward to the northern extremity of the
country. My object in taking my course
last spring further east than two years
ago was to avoid the descent into the great
Humboldt. Petermaun. ands Sherard