372 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



broken ice, when the trouble began all over again. The two 

 natives were afraid of the ice ; I had to talk nicely to them, and 

 partly so, partly by threatening them with all manner of evil 

 things, I at last worked my will, and by walking carefully we 

 managed to cover the one mile of small icefloes, broken up by 

 the wind, without any serious accident. 



It was a hard day's march. The wind was still blowing hard 

 enough to capsize the sledge, although two men were continually 

 trying to keep it right side up, and we ran along on the icefoot, 

 which was about 5 to 10 feet wide. On one side we had the 

 cliffs, high, sinister, and perpendicular; on the other there was 

 luckily a small pressure-ridge, and it often prevented us from 

 being blown into the water which stretched to our right as far 

 as we could see. The foaming water looked as if it were boiling 

 under the strong pressure of the wind, which came sweeping 

 down along the mountains with almost irresistible force, 

 enshrouding us in large clouds of fine white spray, till our furs 

 were covered with a thick layer of ice. 



But in spite of the wind and the intense cold I could not 

 help admiring the magnificent sight of the high and rugged 

 cliffs with their shining icicles and coating of solid ice. How- 

 ever, we had other things to attend to than the grand scenery ; 

 twice in two hours the sledge broke down and had to be 

 repaired in a temperature of -- 30 C. and with a blizzard 

 raging ; it was far from pleasant work. This and the hard 

 going delayed us so much that we had to seek shelter in a 

 house about halfway to Point Hope and stay there for the 

 night. Another party was there, stormbound like ourselves, 

 and the house was overcrowded. Here, as at Weyok, the 

 people had nothing to eat but flour and molasses, so our fare 

 was not luxurious. 



I wished at the time that the people who sold that flour and 

 those molasses to the natives could be forced to eat it themselves, 

 but now I think that it would be almost too great a punishment. 

 It was simply horrid ; the molasses tasted like ink, as thin and 

 of the same colour. The flour was almost black and full of 

 maggots, which we had to eat, as it was impossible to pick 

 them out before baking the bread. 



The next day the travelling was still very hard ; the ice was 

 blown away from the shore, so that not even the icefoot was 



