APPENDIX II 359 



ried down to Esayoo and E-took-a-shoo to tell them the 

 good news. While we drank our tea we talked over our 

 route, and decided to try to get to the head of the 

 valley, if not to the lake, that day. Soon after we 

 started, the valley of the Veery River narrowed dowTi 

 to a mere gorge, across which numerous landslides had 

 thrown high rock barriers. Eighteen times that after- 

 noon we had to unload our sledges and carry our equip- 

 ment over such barriers. By the time we reached the 

 end of the gorge, we were all fatigued and cross, even 

 the dogs being in exceedingly bad humor. 



On the flat where we pitched camp at the mouth of 

 the gorge hundreds of Arctic hares were feeding. They 

 were not at all timid, and came up wdthin a few yards 

 of our sledges. Esayoo's whole team of dogs broke 

 loose and chased pellmell up the mountain-side after 

 a pair of the fleet white hares. The dogs came back 

 soon, all except one. I felt sorry for old Esayoo, upon 

 whom the hard trail had been most wearing that after- 

 noon, and went out to seek his dog. After about an 

 hour's search I found it, its trace caught between two 

 rocks, and brought it back to camp. Supper that eve- 

 ning was one of the best meals I have ever eaten. 



The next day was hard indeed. We sledged down 

 the flat river valley over rocks, gravel, sand, and all 

 kinds of going. Often we waded through water up 

 above our boot-tops; at other times we were in mud. 

 For haK a mile the upper end of Lake Hazen is very 

 shallow, and there the ice was all rotten, in places 

 quite melted. It was the most unpleasant going we 

 had experienced since our first day out from Etah. 



We finally passed the open water and got on good ice. 

 We made camp beside a small islet near the head of 



