been left there
during the fall hunting trips.

The tidal observations by MacMillan at Cape Columbia were made in
connection with the tidal observations which were constantly going on at
Cape Sheridan during the fall and winter, and with those taken later at
Cape Bryant on the other side of Robeson Channel. These tidal
observations of the expedition of 1908-09 were the farthest north of all
continuous series ever recorded anywhere, though similar observations
had been taken by the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition at Fort Conger, about
sixty miles southwest.

Marvin and Borup, during the November moon, continued the tidal
observations at Cape Sheridan. The tidal igloo, which was built on the
ice just inside the tide crack, about one hundred and eighty yards from
the ship, was an ordinary Eskimo snow igloo and was used as a protection
to the men in taking the observations at the tide staff. This staff,
about twelve feet long, was driven into the bottom, and its length was
marked off in feet and inches. As the tide rose and fell, the ice and
the igloo moved with the water, but the staff remained stationary, and
by the position of the ice upon the staff we measured the tides, varying
with the day, the moon and the season.

The tides along the north coast of Grant Land are remarkable for the
slightness of the rise and fall, which varies from an average of 1.8
feet at Cape Sheridan to .8 at Cape Columbia. As is well known to
navigators, the tides at Sandy Hook, New York, sometimes rise twelve
feet, while the tides in the Bay of Fundy are often over fifty feet; in
Hudson Strait they are about forty, and there are places on the coast of
China where the extreme rise is even greater.

The two Eskimo women were sent to Cape Columbia with MacMillan's party
because the Eskimo men like to have their families with them when they
go on long trips. The women are useful in drying and mending the fur
garments which are constantly going to pieces in the rough usage of the
sledge trips. Some of them can drive a dog team as well as the men, and
many of them are good shots. I have known them to shoot musk-oxen and
even bears. They do not attempt the walrus, yet they can paddle a kayak
as well as the men--to the limit of their strength.

The accomplishments of the Eskimo women are of the useful rather than
the ornamental kind. The handling of the native lamp, for instance,
requires great skill. If the lamp is well trimmed, it is as clear and