50 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



of him ; he was a splendid sailor, an intelligent and willing man, 

 and a pleasant messmate. 



But to crown our troubles, Mr. Ditlevsen was also obliged to 

 leave us ; his pains were getting almost intolerable. We were 

 all very sorry to see him go. For a long time we missed him, 

 and often spoke of him during the winter, wondering how he 

 was getting on, hoping for the best and almost fearing the 

 worst. 



With our little crew diminished by two and with two 

 unwilling men, we weighed anchor at 3 P.M. on July 22, and 

 stood out of Port Clarence with a fair wind, which increased 

 as we came out to sea. Once more we passed Behring Strait, 

 and on the following morning we approached the Arctic circle. 

 We were not in the mood for inflicting the usual baptismal 

 rites upon those who had not yet passed the Arctic circle, so 

 Dr. Howe escaped the ordeal. 



At 7 P.M. on Thursday, July 24, we anchored off Point Hope, 

 partly because the weather had become too stormy for sailing, 

 partly to get more dogs. 



As soon as we had anchored, a umiak came out to us with 

 some of the beach whalers on board. They told us that the 

 whaling trade had been bad that year for the white men as well 

 as for the natives, and that they would all possibly be in want 

 of necessities during the coming winter. They stayed on board 

 for some hours, and we were debating the all-important question, 

 was it going to be a good or a bad ice year ? We did not 

 like the permanent north-easterly winds, but the men from 

 shore maintained that it was all right and said that a north- 

 easterly wind would set the ice away from land on the north 

 coast of Alaska. It seemed incredible, but they ought to have 

 known, as they were old whalers themselves. 



We had come in expecting to stay for that night only, but 

 it became a rather long stay, as the wind blew too hard and the 

 sea went too high to allow us to continue our journey till 

 July 29. 



The day after our arrival it blew too hard for us to venture 

 ashore, but some Eskimos who were very eager to sell their 

 dogs came out to us. We bought two brothers, rather fine 

 animals. The price we paid was $4.17 apiece, but it took 

 us three hours to conclude the bargain, sufficient proof that the 



