1915] THE WINTER OF 1915-16 211 



that course for four years, a course which we had re- 

 peatedly covered in nine hours. 



Within two days we were headed for the ship at 

 Parker Snow Bay, each sledge loaded with about 350 

 pounds, all the equipment requested by Doctor Hovey 

 and consisting of pemmican, oil, skins, clothing, snow- 

 shoes, and trading material. Familiarity now with the 

 dangerous spots along the ice-foot below Cape Alex- 

 ander enabled us to complete the trip with safety and 

 much more easily than we had done a few days before. 

 At the end of the trip, however, we were ready to crawl 

 into our warm bags and eat all that the law allowed. 



At Nerky, Ah-now-ka handed me a letter from Doctor 

 Hovey, stating that the food was very low and that 

 their condensed milk, butter, and sugar would all be 

 gone in a very short time. It was absolutely necessary, 

 he thought, that they should all leave the ship and go 

 to Etah. Ever mindful of the needs of the men on 

 board, as we proceeded through the Eskimo villages 

 we continued to trade hareskin for stockings, ook- 

 juk-skins for boot soles, and dogskins for mittens. 

 Good going all the way down the line spurred us on 

 to reach Umanak on Christmas Eve, where Freuchen 

 was expected to entertain all the members of the Crocker 

 Land Expedition. 



In contrast to our visualization of a warm, well- 

 lighted house, plenty of food, and a jolly, laughing 

 band of men, we found a cold, dark house inhabited 

 only by a few Eskimos. The joys of a home Christmas 

 were very, very far away from us that night. The 

 arrival of Freuchen, Hunt, and Captain Comer on the 

 next day, however, partly compensated for our loss of 

 a happy Christmas; the latter was the ice pilot on the 



