New-York tribune., 1915-09-18

oxen, the last in Melville Island. Musk
oxen in Banks Island are extinct. We
had no hardships at any time and
we're never in imminent danger, 80
far as we know
Banks Island has not been visited by
white men. although whalers sight it
often, since Mcclure abandoned his ship
here in 1854. At that time musk oxen
were abundant, but we have seen none,
and they may be extinct. They are
much more scarce than near Colllnson
Point, where our schOoners wlntered
last year. or on any part of the main
land known 10 me between the COlville
and the copper mine. The Eskimo IN
habitantS of the west coast seem 10
have seen a few transients only. and
that between fifty and hundred years
ago, probably. Caribou are rare be-
tween Banks Land and King William
Island. For a time ~e had to Kill all
the caribou We saw, but later we shot
only old bucks, for they gave the most
and the fattcSt meat. Our cartridges
had to be husbanded.
Disappointed in North Star.
As had directed the North Star to
come to Norway Island 10 look for us
we spent the summer in the vicinity,
drying meat. fat. and skins against
coming winter We killed in all forty
nine caribou, over thirty of which were
old bucks. Besides keeping US and the
six dogs this gave US many valuable
skins and a ton Of dried meat and 500
pounds of suet, which gave us ample
dog food for the ice exploration work
in February.
Toward the latter part of summer ice
conditions off the west coast of Banks
Island were excellent for a shallow
draft vessel. The heavy ice was
aground from a mile to twenty miles
off shore in fifteen to twenty fathoms of
water. Inside the barrier warm
streams from the land thawed the ice
along shore, and there was a clear lane
along the beach ample for the passage
of the North Star. The coast is an en-
bayed one. There are few fve-mile
stretches without harbor suitable for
a vessel of four-foot draft. 1t was for
lust such conditions that | had bought
the North Star. and the existence of
these conditions justified US in expect
ing the schooner to arrive any day after
August 20. When, however, September
/ arrived, with continued fair weather
and open shore water. we all agreed
Accordingly we covered our dried meat
cache safely with stones and proceeded
south along the coast with pack dogs.
At Cape Kellett We found the Mary
Sachs in winter quarters, although the
sea was absolutely clear of ice.
There had been some ice about Cape
Kellett when she arrived there late in
August Bleaching and hauling the
schooner up here was due partly to her
having lost one of her propellers and
TO the presence Of ice, but also and
perhaps to several mistaken ideas. They
seem to have thought that if we were
on Banks Island we would be at Cape
Kellett, anxiously and probably hun
grily watching for sail on the hori
zon, and when they found no sign of
us they concluded we were dead this
in spite of the fact that the appointed
rendezvous was a hundred miles fur
ther north. Men Of the Sachs are most
of them new TO the Arctic and had been
thoroughly discouraged by this time.
The amusing opinion apparently was
uniformly held by most of the whalers
and others at Herschel Island last sum-
mer that We were all dead because We
failed to come back from a journey
from which | had said we would prob
ably not try to come back.
The Sachs thought that summer was
over August, whereas September Is
commonly enough a good month for
navigation up here, and vas so in this
summer.
Given Up for Dead.
II was also thought that the west
coast o. Banks Island was preclpitOus,
devoid of harbors and driftwood. all of
which IS erroneous, but the chief rea-
son for not going further north was
clearly that feeling that we were GER
t4nly dead The North Star, learned,
had made no effort to come 10 Banks
Island. as / had directed. The karluk
had been crushed near Wrangell Island,
but her men had reached that island
in safety, and would be picked up b.
one of the American revenue cutters.
II was too late, thought, for re-
launching the Sachs, so | turned my
attention al once to securing fresh
meat for men and dogs forthwith.
Six bears and sixty caribou were Sc
cured by the end of November, which
was more meat than we needed. al
though we had nothing else for our
twenty dogs.
! thought at first of going TO the
'NffNoNA bA0t IA nio0hd vi A'NAf+iAh
and Union Straits by sled to send our
dispatches and to arrange for getting
the North Star next year, to establish
the base we now need so badly on
Prince Patrick Island
Later | concluded that il would take
the united efforts of all of you 10 pre-
pare adequate resources for the ice eX-
ploration Of the coming spring and that
you would be foolish TO sacrifice pres
ent opportunities TO a future prospect.
During the absence of the sun the Eski-
mo, Nakusiak, and myself made a 400
mile round trip TO the southeast of
Banks Island and Victoria Island to
search for the Eskimos who usually
winter there. but for some reason they
seemed 10 be elsewhere this year. We
hoped TO secure dogs from them for
the ice work, but that hope failed when
three OF our twenty dogs also died.
Many Of the others are old and small,
so that We now have only two possible
teams against the four with which we
commenced to journey over the ice.
We start out this year, however, on
February 2, instead of March %, which
should more than make up for the few
ness of dogs.
On account of having already ex-
plored the sea north beyond parallel
"a and because we fear the southwark
diff which we encountered near the