The Portland daily press., 1895-09-23
AWFUL STRAITS.



weak from hunger and half frozen.
Henson and were imprisoned in tent
for six days, when the storm ceased -ss'
Standing at the entrance of the tent
the accumulation of new snow was level
with my eve The actual snowfall On a
level was three and half feet. Two days
were spent in an exhaustive but vain
search for the caches, all buried,
recoverable, lost in the snow. | felt
like a man shipwrecked and cast away
On o desert shore with only the clothes on
his back. / must begin again at the very
bottom, with the previous seasons work
blotted out entirely. Nearly all my
biscuit and milk, all the compressed pea
soup, and every ounce of two funda-
mental items of an article sledge's equip
ment, rations of pemmican and alconol,
in all a ton and half, were gone The
chances were ten to one against accom-
plishing anything under such an
enormous handicap
Returning to the Lodge Oh October 20,
l found the entire land buried as had
never seen it before The following days
were gloomy ones at the Lodge. The
idea Of giving mp that for which we were
there never occurred to us, but the
question how to accomplish our object re-
manned unanswered.
The sun was seen for the last time on
October %. During the remainder OF
October and November five more deer
were added to our stock. The preparation
of the house for the winter was COM
pleted Several short sledge trips were
undertaken, and general plan of CAM
paign and scheme of equipment and
rations for the spring march were decided
upon and two sledges we're completed
Reindeer meat for ourselves and walrus
for the dogs must take the place OF
pemmican. Coal oil must serve as sub
stitute for alcohol. l had nothing with
which to replace the invaluable pea soup,
only 100 pounds of biscuit in tins and
less than two cases of milk. The neceS-
sary amount of the biscuit must be made
up from bulky ships biscuit in open
boxes, and by going without milk during
the winter we would have a little more
than half ration for the ice cap journey.
A WINTER TRIP TO CAPE YORK.
The light of December moon was
utilized for sledge trip to Cape York
with Mr.. Lee as my companion. Stormy
weather delayed us so much that on our
return we ran short of provisions, and
the last march, from Saunders Island to
the Lodge, was forced one of forty-six
hours without food CT sleep. Off Cape
Parry, while travelling on young ice, we
had a narrow escape from mishap,
large berg disrupting near us and break
ing up the ice Oh which we We're
travelling.
The holidays were uneventful, and but
for the presence OF many natives from
Earnah. the nearest and this winter the
largest of all the native settlements, they
would have been among the bluest of our
winter days. During the January moon
I made "a five days trip to various SETTLE
ments in the sound. Lee and Henson
also made shorter journeys, but most of
the time was occupied in work on our
Equipment February and the first half
of March were devoted to tho same work,
relieved by two or three deer hunts and
sledge trips to various settlements on the
gulf for material for clothing, dog
harness. and so on.
THE SUN APPEARS AGAIN.
The sun was seen for the first time on
February IL. The latter part of the
month Mr.. Lee returned from a trip to
Robertson Bay ION the coast of Baffin's
Bay north of the camp) in bad condition
and was laid up for two weeks or more.
On March IL Matt Henson started south
for Woltenholme Sound and Petawak
following his departure utilized in
sledging supplies to the moraine, and on
Marsh 80 met him at PeterapWick on his
return. Sending Henson home to rest, !
remained at Peterapwick five days pur-
chasing dogs and walrus meat and en-
eaging men to go on the ice, cap. On
March ~ reached the Lodge again with
a cayalcade of nine sledges carrying my
purchases. 1 found Mr.. Lee nearly re-
covered. .
The next four days were occupied IN
Transporting the sledges to the moralne,
fitting out four Eskimos who were to
accompany us with suitable gear, and
putting the last touches to our own out
fit. All my records, journals, ana
valuable papers were deposited under the
house, where 1 hoped they would be safe
manning provisions and more valuable
articles were taken into the house, and
leaving everything to the honesty OF my
native friends, in whose hands l left
letters to cover the contingency of our
non-return we were ready to start.
STARTING FOR THE INLAND ICE.
On Monday, April l. left Ani4 versary
Lodge with Mr.. Lee Henson, six
Eskimos and sixty three dogs Two of
the Eskimos were to accompany US only
for the day. The other four, forming the
supporting party, would accompany us
as far as the site of the previous season
pemmican cache, 1874 miles distant on the
inland ice. The day was clear and calm
The material on and at the edge of the
ice cap was divided into six loads, and
we made AN advance of twelve miles
Mr.. Lee was not in such a condition, as
l could have wished, but with Yankee
grit he insisted on going and believed
it to be better for him than remaining
behind alone. The following three
marches were interrupted by further but
with one exception unsuccessful searches
for the lost caches. Six inches OF seven
foot pole, marking the equinoctial, camp,
still projected above the snow. The dis
covery Of this cache enabled me to replace
my miscellaneous packages OF snip S
biscuit with sealed tins and complete my
milk ration. This cache and the bamboo
pole ten miles distant, which on the
previous Marsh >had stood twelve feet
above the snow and now showed less
than three feet, were the only remaining
traces of our previous years work and
one and one-haIf tons of indispensable
sledge supplies. One of the Esklmos
deserted on the third march and returned
to the Lodge with his dogs and sledge