EXPEDITION OF 1898-1902 317 



clouds, wind, fog, and snow, which continued with 

 scarcely a break for weeks. 



After her departure the work before me presented 

 itself as follows: To protect the provisions, construct 

 our winter quarters, then begin building sledges, and 

 grinding walrus meat for dog pemmican for the spring 

 campaign. 



During the first month a number of walrus were 

 killed from our boats off the mouth of the fiord ; then 

 the usual Arctic winter settled down upon us, its mon- 

 otony varied only by the visits of the natives, occasional 

 deer-hunts, and a December sledge journey to the 

 Eskimo settlements in Whale Sound as far as Kangerd- 

 looksoah. In this nine days' trip some 240 miles were 

 covered in six marches, the first and the last marches 

 being of 60 to 70 miles. I returned to Etah just in 

 time to escape a severe snowstorm, which stopped 

 communication between Etah and the other Eskimo 

 settlements completely, until I sent a party with snow- 

 shoes and a specially constructed sledge, carrying no 

 load, and manned by double teams of dogs, to break 

 the trail. 



During my absence some of my natives had crossed 

 to Mr. Stein's place at Sabine, and January 9th I be- 

 gan the season's work by starting a few sledge-loads 

 of dog-food for Cape Sabine, for use of my teams in 

 the spring journey. From this time on, as the open 

 water in Smith Sound permitted, more dog-food was 

 sent to Sabine, and as the light gradually increased 

 some of my Eskimos were kept constantly at Sonntag 

 Bay, some twenty miles to the South, on the lookout 

 for walrus. 



