104 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



The plaster of Paris jacket that Dr. Howe had put on Tullik 

 was not a success. She could not rest, and one morning when 

 we awoke she was sitting up in her blankets, looking utterly dis- 

 gusted. She was very angry, and Uxra was dividing his 

 attention between her and the shrieking baby. We asked what 

 was the matter, and Tullik told us to take the jacket off, as she 

 had not slept all night and itched all over " all same me lousy," 

 to use her own expression. It was stripped off, and Tullik was 

 again happy. 



On October 6 we started for the ship and tried to force our 

 way through the young ice. But the umiak could not stand 

 it, and when passing a point it was caught by the eddy and 

 whirled about, unpleasantly close to some blocks of grounded 

 ice. Tullik became hysterical, and we had to put on shore in 

 order to pacify her. When we examined the boat we found 

 that the boat skins were in very poor condition, being worn thin 

 by constant grinding through young and sharp ice. 



We had to abandon our attempt to return with the boat, and 

 the next morning we started along the shore with dogs and 

 sledges, but \ve had to go very carefully, as the ice was thin 

 with many large holes. Uxra led the way with his outfit, then 

 came our sledge, and we were fairly sure that where Uxra could 

 go with his heavier sledge we could go without danger. Possibly 

 on account of that we became too careless, and I had to suffer 

 for it to the extent of being drenched to the waist. We had no 

 change of clothes, so I had to go about in my wet, frozen 

 clothes, which chafed my whole body in the most disagreeable 

 manner. 



My favourite dog, Journiska, had had several fits of late, and 

 as these attacked him on two occasions while in harness he was 

 turned loose. Instead of following the sledges as we had 

 expected, he left us and followed the back track. We only dis- 

 covered his absence when it was too late to hunt him up, and 

 we all thought that he was quite lost. 



At last we came so far that we could see the ship, but to our 

 sorrow we had to camp on a sand-spit opposite the island, as an 

 open water lane separated us from our temporary home. Next 

 morning we were seen by some natives who had come to Flax- 

 man Island during our absence, and a umiak came over to 

 fetch us. 



