344 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH 



oxen from one to three years old. The herd of which 

 they were a part was composed of the finest specimens 

 of musk-oxen that I have seen. They were thick 

 padded with fat as golden and sweet as butter; their 

 coats glistened bright and well kept in the bright 

 sunshine; and their horns were smooth and polished. 

 Esayoo counted sixty-seven in the herd. Their splen- 

 did condition was no doubt due to the excellent pasturage 

 they found on the grassy meadows among the moun- 

 tains and along the fjord. 



The west coast of Ellesmere Land in the vicinity of 

 Bay Fjord is not generally so precipitous and bleak as 

 the east coast. It is more maturely dissected, the val- 

 leys are wider, the slopes are less steep, and the moun- 

 tains do not everywhere rise so abruptly. Large tracts 

 support a relatively luxuriant growth of willow, sedge, 

 and grass, the chief foods of the musk-oxen. 



Several of our dogs slipped their traces at this kill, 

 among them one of my dogs, a little w^olf-like gray creat- 

 ure, that Allen had named Pookey. Pookey was a 

 strong, willing dog of which I had grown very fond in 

 the short time I had driven her. Pookey had become 

 wild with excitement when we made the kill, especially 

 after we had driven the part of the herd that we spared 

 away toward the mountains. The wolf in her grew 

 dominant, and for the time being she became wild. I 

 could not catch her, nor w^ould she give up worrying 

 the musk-oxen, until late that evening. Then, ashamed 

 of her waywardness, she skulked back to camp over 

 the sea ice, just as Nukapingwa came in flushed with 

 success from his bear-hunt. He could not see our camp 

 for a little ridge between us and the sea, but he did see 

 Pookey sneaking along. Sad to say, I had told my 



