94 



EXPLORATIONS IN THE FAR NORTH 



Although there was little comfort in a bed, where I was liter- 

 ally writhing from cold, it was not pleasant to open my blanket 

 covered with frost and snow, and search in the darkness for a 

 strip of birch bark with which to ignite the charred sticks at 

 our feet. After I had put a kettle filled with snow, containing 

 a handful of black tea, on the fire, it was easy to rouse the 

 men; the rattle of a granite cup against the kettle or the cry 

 "lee tea" always brought them up at once. After eating our 

 dried meat, each man loaded his sled as rapidly as possible. 

 It was necessary to use our bare hands in lashing the sleds, 

 which was the coldest work of the day. 



We became comfortably warm after running a few minutes, 

 and had accomplished nearly half our day's journey before the 

 first gleams of dawn — "small daylight" — had appeared; 

 though it rose but a short distance above the horizon, the sun's 

 appearance had a wonderfully enlivening effect on our spirits. 

 The boy before the dogs ran with a free and untiring step, the 

 whips cracked merrily, the bells with a hundred tinkling 

 tongues proclaimed the joys of light and life in speeding over 

 that diamond-studded plain of purity. 



Toward evening the boy stopped more frequently, the whips 

 fell mercilessly on the heavy coats of the tired team, our limbs 

 moved mechanically as if they had lost the sense of feeling, 

 our hands became so numb that we sometimes had to use our 

 teeth, instead, in loosening the sled lines. 



The ice formed a solid mass in my beard, causing my voice 

 to sound muffled, and in time froze against my cheeks; my 

 eyelashes were nearly always covered with frost, which seriously 

 interfered with the sight; the vapor from our heated bodies 

 gathered in feathery crystals on the hair of our capotes, so that 

 we were quite indistinguishable from one another at a little dis- 

 tance, in fact, hardly recognizable as human beings. 



Before darkness set in the dogs were halted and all entered 

 the bush, ax in hand, to gather fuel. After piling up half a 

 cord of dead spruce, "Old John "and I scraped away the snow 

 with our snow-shoes and laid down a thick carpet of boughs 

 on which to spread our blankets. The boy brought wood for 

 the morning fire until the camp was finished, when he lighted 

 the fire while we brought up our sleds. The dogs threw all 

 their reserve strength into the effort necessary to force the sled 



