256 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



house, and then, after a hearty shake hands all 

 round, I commence my exit, once more crawling 

 on hands and knees, and am heartily glad when I 

 have again safely passed through the growling dogs 

 and have reached the outer world." 



On Monday, May 4, Mr. Peck left the Kikkerton 

 neighbourhood. Several of the people brought him 

 a parting gift of young seal skins before he started. 

 " Then as the sledge moved over the frozen waste," 

 he writes. " I heard some of the little band I had 

 left behind singing hymns. What a joyful sound 

 to hear in this frozen land ! 



" Our dogs, numbering fourteen in all, pulled 

 away with a will, and we speedily lost sight of the 

 station and its inhabitants. Two men accompanied 

 me on this occasion, which is unusual, seeing that I 

 usually help with the sledge on all my journeys 

 thus saving the use of a second man." 



There is a touch of drollery about this affair that 

 makes it worth recording. All the able-bodied 

 men were at this time in the boats employed in the 

 whale fishing by Mr. Mutch, Mr. Noble's agent, 

 consequently there had been a difficulty in finding 

 a wholly sound man to drive and guide the sledge. 

 The man who owned the larger number of the dogs 

 was almost blind, he therefore needed another man 

 with good sight to point out the way. The only 

 other man available at the station was lame in onej 

 leg, it was necessary therefore for the two men tcj 



