The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1913-04-13

Great numbers Of mountain sheep were
seen, and several superb specimens were
brought back for the Smithsonian Instl-
tuition. Ptarmigan were very plentiful.
and fish were found In every stream.
Mosquitoes Big a. Dollars.
While game of all kinds was in great
abundance. several reasons were appar-
ent why the Eskimos had let Mosqui-
toes were there by the millions. They
We're not ordinary mosquitoes. such as
are usually seen in civilized parts. Some
OF them were as big as q silver dollar.
In fact the surviving members Of the
onslaught say the mosquitoes were 10
vicious that they had to build a huge
smudge fire to keep them away from
the horses. 1t was laughable, and yet
at the same time, pretty hard on the
poor horses. The animals would stand
in the smoke in preference to being eat
en- alive by the insects Then they
would wander out for a little grass. but
in few minutes come rushing back for
the smudge.
Every man in the party had to work
with wells over the face and gloves tied
around the wrists Usually when a mos
quito got in his fine work and took
chunk out of the men the air
would become Initiated by the great flow
of irritability. Every one had to sleep
in mosquito proof tents In order to get
any sleep at ALL While eating, II was
necessary to sit in smoke so dense as to
be almost sufrocating On the whole, the
survivors say the experience at this
point is one they will remember as long
as they live.
In speaking of the work and incidents
connected With the trip. Thomas Riggs
gave the writer a graphic description of
the phenomena Of the mirage and the
scene upon the driving in of the final
peg on the coast Of the Arctic Ocean.
He said:
"Mirages were frequent. Herschel Is
land. more than sixty miles away, could
not be seen on account OF the curvature
Of the earth. but 1t was shown In the
sky in the form of a mirage. Lakes
would appear on the tundra. and in ono
instance pack train made detour five
miles to avoid what seemed to be large
body of water. Later on, the head
packer was Supplied to see me walking
out of what appeared to him a great
lake. Small hummocks would take on
the appearance Of huge mesas-a sort
of elevated table land. The mirage In
formation Is very interesting to watch.
First. a spire would show up looking like
a skeleton steel building. This would
gradually fill in until 1t assumed solid
appearance Gulls on the shore would
take on enormous proportions. In one
instance. we though gull was Polar
bear.
Placing the Last Peg.
The Arctic Ocean is never free from
ice. Huge ice foes are to be seen on
every hand. So that We could say We
had been in the Arctic, four of us took
a bath with the temperature several de-
grees below freezing. We took a moving
picture machine along to record the DIFF
ferent operations of surveying along the
boundary. with the object Of using them
upon our return for educational purposes.
The two best pictures show the placing
of the final peg on the shore of the Arc
tic and the other the bathing scene.
THE scene at the time We placed the
last peg on the boundary was interesting.
We had two flag poles erected, one on
each side of the boundary, the United
States flag on the American side, and
the Canadian on the other. To show how
careful the work was performed. we had
to calculate the exact point with instru-
nients, and then set a tack right on the
point. A stout oaken peg was first driven
into the ground. The exact point was
then calculated and this point marked