n6 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



One day, when I went down to Sachawachick's house, I took 

 a camera with me in order to take a flashlight photograph inside 

 his igloo. Douglamana and her children were alone at home, 

 and they watched me with great interest while I was focussing 

 the camera, and still more when I lit the fuse to the magnesium. 

 Off it went, a flash, and all was over; but what a shock to the 



THE "DUCHESS OF BEDFORD" IN WINTER QUARTERS. 



people in the cabin ! The old lady rolled as far back as she 

 could get. Tjimigok, the youngest child, buried himself in a 

 pile of fur, so that only his feet were visible, while Krajootak was 

 peeping at me from behind a large box to see whether more 

 was coming. It lasted a long time before I, in my imperfect 

 Eskimo language, could make Douglamana understand that no 

 harm had been done to them, and much longer before I could 

 induce them to stand up to a flashlight again. 



On October 28 I took a long walk on the ice to the north of 

 the island to see what it looked like. It was rather heavy 

 walking, and I made up my mind that if it did not change we 

 should have to hew a road through it when we started north- 

 ward ; but it might be better further out. Some pieces of old 

 ice had grounded about a mile from the shore, and binding the 

 young ice inside, made rather a good floe. But further outside 

 large and heavy pieces of old ice had become frozen together, 

 and from the top of a large piece about 25 feet high nothing but 

 a surface of broken ice was visible. 



