222 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [Mar. 



traveled by way of the plateau and we ventured to try 

 it, although neither of us had ever been that way. 



Every rock and knoll looked like a mountain in the 

 magnifying mist. So deceiving were appearances that 

 for some minutes I was in doubt as to our being in the 

 vicinity of Etah at all. At length we recognized a small 

 butte, visible from the door of our house, and this identi- 

 fied our location positively. 



So compact was the snow on the slope downward to 

 the sea ice that it was entirely out of the question to 

 consider driving down, or even holding back on the 

 sledge with the dogs in the rear, an expedient often 

 adopted on a sharp descent. Whereupon Noo-ka- 

 ping-wa resorted to the ruse of placing the sledge on its 

 side, the ends of the crossbars and one upstander scor- 

 ing the snow deeply and serving as an effective brake. 

 The dogs, threatened with the whip, sat back in their 

 harness and helped considerably. Finally, covered with 

 sweat, barehanded and bareheaded, and stripped to our 

 undershirts, we arrived at the surface of the fiord, and 

 within a few minutes stood in front of our door. 



UiN > 



