APPENDIX II 337 



\ 

 The weather was not propitious as we set out. The j 



wind blew strong and cold at the house, and we could 1 



tell by the driving clouds overhead that almost a gale j 



raged beyond Sunrise Point. We decided, however, to 



make the attempt, and after bidding good-by to those 



left behind we slid our laden sledges down the bank i 



to the ice, hitched our dogs, and dashed away. In an I 



hour we were well by Sunrise Point, but there we en- j 



tered the rough ice that lay between Lyttleton Island \ 



and the mainland; in the teeth of a howling northwest i 



blizzard we toiled laboriously for eight hours through 



the chaos of broken ice blocks, with snow partly filling ' 



the hollows between. i 



Tired and worn, and wet with perspiration, and our | 



fur clothes matted with frozen snow, we finally got to ! 



Cape Olsen, only eight or ten miles from Etah. In- 

 stead of making camp, we chose to return to head- 

 quarters, where we might dry out our clothes. We left 

 our loads on the ice-foot and started back. With light 

 sledges and with the wind behind us, we covered in less 

 than two hours the distance it had taken us all day to 

 make going out. 



The 25th was a stormy day, and though we essayed 

 an attempt to leave, we found a driving blizzard swirling 

 beyond Sunrise Point and came back to Etah. On the 

 26th the storm had not abated; but about six o'clock in 

 the evening Oobloyah came to me to state that he 

 thought the storm had spent itself and that it would 

 be wise to set out. We gave our dogs the last of the 

 walrus meat procurable at headquarters, and again 

 dashed away. 



In a short time we reached the supplies and equip- 

 ment that we had cached, loaded them on our sledges. 



