THE FIELD PARTY. 295 



for him, while she who alone could have soothed the 

 sorrows of his declining years had gone away before 

 him to the far-off island where the Great Spirit, Torn- 

 gasoak the Mighty, regales the happy souls with an 

 endless feast on the ever green banks of the bound- 

 less lake, where the ice is never seen and the darkness 

 is never known, — where the sunshine is eternal, in 

 the summer of bliss that is everlasting, — the Uper- 

 nak that has no end. 



The temperature having somewhat moderated, I 

 determined to set out in the evening of the third of 

 April. Although the sun had not yet reached the 

 horizon at midnight, there was quite light enough for 

 my purposes, and by traveling in the night instead of 

 the day we would have greater warmth while in camp, 

 which is really the time of greatest danger from the 

 cold ; for when on the march men have usually little 

 difficulty in keeping warm, even at the lowest temper- 

 atures, provided there is no wind. Besides this, there 

 is still another difficulty obviated. The constant glare 

 of the mid-day sun is a very severe tax upon the eye, 

 and great caution is needed to guard against that 

 painful and inconvenient disease known as " snow- 

 blindness." In order to protect my men against it, 

 as much as possible, I had supplied each of them with 

 a pair of blue-glass goggles. 



My field party consisted of every available officer 

 and man in the schooner, twelve in number. We 

 were all ready to start at seven o'clock ; and when I 

 joined them on the ice beside the schooner their ap- 

 pearance was as picturesque as it was animated. In 

 advance stood Jensen, impatiently rolling out his long 

 whip-lash ; and his eight dogs, harnessed to his sledge, 

 '' The Hope," were as impatient as he. Next came 



