Mexico Missouri message., 1909-10-14

mucn OF our time now was spent "a
mending our garments and boots, and In
trying to harbor our supplies in an effort
straight course was set Tor the musk
OK land. Crossing the s3rd parallel we
found ourselves TO the west OF the large
lead extending southwark The Ice
changed 20. small fields. The tempera-
ture arose to zero. and a persistent mist
obscured the heavens
Dogs Allowed to co Away.
The events OF the following day were
pressed into desperate action, with a few
lines on paper TO register the life Of suf-
ferinR,
The food for man and dog was reduced
to a three-quarter ration. The difficulty
OF Ice travel was at its worst.
At the end Of struggle Of twenty days
through thick fog the sky cleared and we
Prince Gustav's Sea, near Rlnge's Land,
with open water and impassable small
ice as a barrier between us and Hell
bergs Island. In these long fogs we
were. therefore, unable to obtain obser-
vations.
The ice. instead Of drifting eastward.
as II had in the northward trip, now
drifted westward and southwark. II had
carried us far away from our intended
return.
In Nansen Sound and Eureka Sound we
had placed caches Of food for the return
trip TO Greenland. and to reach these IL
was impossible now. Our only chance OF
escape was to go south with the ice to
Lancaster Sound. in the hope of board
ing aw haler and reaching civilization
during the September OF last year.
With our food now exhausted, the
question OF getting additional supplies
was of the utmost Importance In pass
ing beyond Wrangel Land we soon found
bear tracks, and we also saw seal; and
then birds came along, and we found
enough to refill our larder and keep us
supplied for a brief SPELL
Now our shriveled skins were filled out
with bear meat. For a brief time we en-
toyed the luxury of full stomachg, and
we moved southwark slowly over the
drifting ice and ice which was very mucf.
As we pushed into Wellington Sound
we were stopped by small ice The sound
was packed, and we were unable to cross
that ice with our sledges There were no
longer any birds or seal We could not
wait for the Ice to move, and as a last
resort we crossed to North Devon and
moved into Jones Sound.
Here we hoped to secure large game,
and with that game we expected to sup
port ourselves and move eastward to the
boat. But again there was no game; no
birds-only ducks and gulls. With what
little rifle ammunition we had we secured
gulls. but we couldn't get enough meat
to feed our dogs, and the dogs were per-
mitted to follow their progenitors-the
wolf. There was open water in Jones
Sound; and now. for the first time. we
had use for our folding canvas boats
Birds Eaten Raw.
We had taken with us all the way to
the pole and back to this point the can
vas boat The wood of that boat was a
part OF the sledge; the canvas was floor
cover for our snow house and the extra
ciable.
But now we spread the boat and start
ed eastward. A boat at this time was a
very important fixture. If we had not
had this boat we never would have been
able to leave the western part of Jones
Sound, and never would have survived
through more than one-half the hard
hot
With our little boat now we moved
slowly eastward. From the early part of
July to September we had a long adven-
ture in boat aud sledge, moving in water
and over ice.
For food we had only an occasional
bird, and that was secured first at the
later by the use of a slingshot and
snares. We had no fuel-we were very
glad to get the birds and eat them raw.
But we were fortunate in securing water
at this time along the shore.
In the early part of September we
found ourselves on the shores of Baffin's
Bay. there to stay for the winter.
We saw now that 1t was impossible to
move farther south or farther north. we
were beset, and we had nothing with
which to winter. No food. no fuel and no
ammunition. A few weeks were spent
here in preparing for the next battle.
Our sled had been taken apart, one of
them, and placed in the boat. 1t was
made of hickory This hickory now
primitive implements We made bows
and arrows; we made lances and har-
poems, and we prepared In every way to
fight the battle of life with primitive
methods for we couldn't do otherwise.
Thus we started with our little boat to
go westward to find home in this de-
serted world of Ice.
Up to this time we had seen no large
game in this district. But in passing
Cape Sparbo, we had picked that as a
possible wintering place--as we neared
rnO an nd a nf
land. we heard the welcome sound of
walrus. number OF large animals were
summing themselves on a field of ice. We
were not long in preparing our little boat
Battle With Bears.
Now this canvas boat was only twelve
| feet long; II was not any larger than the
animal which we aimed to take. We had
not a complete Eskimo equipment for
| walrus hunting, but we did have har-
\ pooh and the lances. We had no way of
| making float or drag For this purpose
| we selected a small field of Ice, cut a
| hole into ii and fastened there our har-
the harpoon. But at the same time a
| bear jumped from behind and grabbed o
young walrus, made 1t squall. The ami
mails then disappeared, and we were left
The next day we started out again
| This time we located smaller group OF
| animals, three, and we advanced slowly
| and delivered our harpoon. We played
| that animal for fifteen hours, and at tia
| end Of that time we were rather tired
| and the walrus was, also. We made 9
camp. took It ashore and cut II up, an6
now we were rich. We had about 00t
| pounds of meat and blubber; more fOoC
| than we had seen for many months; and
we prepared to enjoy 1t as only hungry
| men could.
we built camp FIRE Of moss and blub-
Der, filed our cooking pals with mea'
and boiled one pail after after another another W,
more, and then we slept-and then WI
4 started to do the same thing again.
In this way after several hours O
giuttonous engagement, we lay down fol
/ good long sleep. When we aWoke W.
found two bears near our camp fire. and
| they were discussing piece Of meat
Now we had left at our camp FIRE a piece
Of meat weighing about hundred pounds
for our next meal. The bears were I'm
terested In this ALSO and when w
sought to drive them off they did no
seem inclined to move. With bow anC
arrow, however, and by the effective us'
of stones we managed to convince then
that we were not agreeable companions
They moved away--but they took ou
meat with them.
This meat which we had brough