187G ARCTIC DOG-SLEDGE. 271 



During Egerton s return journey with the lightly- 

 laden sledge, there was great difficulty in preventing 

 the dogs running away when they knew that they 

 were homeward-bound. In passing the deep snow 

 slope at Cape Eawson, the invalid being fortunately off 

 the sledge at the time, they could not be restrained, 

 and the sledge rolled over the side of the bank, a depth 

 of thirty feet. After the sledge was righted, and while 

 Egerton was employed clearing the entangled harness, 

 the dogs suddenly broke away, dragging him more 

 than a hundred yards, and bruising him severely, 

 before they were stopped by his body becoming 

 jammed in between two pieces of ice. 



He reports : — 



' During the journey all the dogs except " Bruin " 

 worked very well, and no fits occurred I picketed 

 them each night, and they remained quiet, only one 

 dog, " Flo," breaking adrift. I found no difficulty 

 in giving them their food — two pounds of preserved 

 meat each, daily — which had been frozen and broken 

 into pieces before leaving the ship. Though it was 

 as hard as the ice itself, they appeared to enjoy it 

 thoroughly.' 



« 16th — To-day the skylights above the lower-deck 

 and my cabin were freed from snow, and daylight 

 introduced, an inestimable blessing ; but with it the 

 cold also finds its way in. The difference in tempera- 

 ture between the inside and outside of the glass was 

 sufficient to crack one pane before the quickly accumu- 

 lating frozen vapour on the inside formed in sufficient 

 thickness to protect the glass. Previous to this taking- 

 place, owing to the quick conduction of cold through 



