Page:Proposed Expedition to Explore Ellesmere Land - 1894.djvu/22

23 money expended than the leaders of larger parties. An expedition such as yours ought to provide for a successful retreat. This you have done by placing your supply depot in the line of the Scotch whaling vessels which every year skirt the northern edge of the Baffin Bay ice pack, and commence their whale-catching off the mouth of Jones Sound. I would advise by all means that you determine to spend at least the first winter at your winter quarters. The reason of this is that the spring and early summer are the best times for sledging. There can be no question but that the region which you propose to explore is rich in animal life. While in winter quarters, in 1872 and 1873, at Life-Boat Cove, I had many conversations with Eskimos in regard to Ellesmere Land, which lay directly across Smith Sound. They told me that west of the mountains that skirted the coast there were large quantities of deer and musk-oxen.

While on board the Scottish whalers, in 1873, I saw them following the whales into Lancaster Sound and into the entrance of Barrow Strait and Prince Regent's Inlet. Then for several weeks very few whales were caught. The surmise was that they went north, through Wellington Channel, but. as that channel had not been surveyed, the ships could not follow the whales on account of the insurance. In the exploration which you contemplate, Jones Sound and Wellington Channel would probably be thoroughly surveyed, and that would be an advantage to the whaling interests.

(who reached the farthest west in yones Sound and explored the east coast of Bllesmere Land in 1852.) 2em Your proposed voyage fills me with deep interest. Ellesmere Land and its coasts, I gather, are to be the field of your operations, and, as far as my memory will carry me back, I think it offered in 1852 great opportunities. I shall not fail to speak of your enterprise whenever fitting opportunity offers.