CHAPTER XL 



FROM ICY CAPE BACK TO CIVILIZATION. 



Leave Icy Cape Sledge breaks down Meet Natives Travel with 

 them Arrive at Cape Lisburne A Blizzard Hard travelling to 

 reach Point Hope The Missionary The Natives Leave Point 

 Hope Keevalina Kotzebue Mission Dogs giving out Arrive at 

 Candle Civilization again. 



WE started on Monday, November 25, and Mr. Fellows was 

 loth to say good-bye, which to him meant other months of 

 solitude, and of none but native company. But the trail before 

 me was still long, I had only covered the smaller part of it, and 

 as it was I had already stayed too long, so I was forced to refuse 

 his invitation to stay " only one day more." When some walrus 

 meat we had bought for dog-feed was broken out of the ice cellar 

 at 9.50 A.M., we cracked our whips at the dogs and were again 

 on the trail. But when we came to the last of the huts it was 

 almost dark, and we accepted the invitation of the inhabitants 

 and stayed in their dwelling, which was half house, half tent. 

 The walls were constructed of turf, supported by a few pieces of 

 wood, and the tent cover was stretched over it. It was small 

 but warm, and the Eskimos, with their usual hospitality, gave us 

 the best places and took the worst themselves. We were off 

 early in the morning. The weather was splendid and the moon 

 still shining, but it was waning faster than I liked, being at this 

 time smaller than a quarter. The moon is certainly a great 

 blessing in the Arctic, and at this time of the year travelling 

 without it would be very slow, as we have only a few hours of 

 twilight in the middle of the day. 



At noon we caught a glimpse of the sun just peeping over the 

 hills to the south, and I hoped soon to be able to see more of it, 

 as I ought to travel faster than it could do. But in the Arctic 

 what one " ought" is not always what one " can " do. As it 

 was, bad weather, heavy going, tired dogs, and sledge break- 

 downs delayed me so much that the sun ran away from me, 



