376 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



lost my friend Oojooaktok, who was going to wait there for the 

 reindeer herd, and I was sorry to see him go, as he had always 

 been a very faithful man, who had done his share of the hard 

 work without grumbling. Whether he was ever made an 

 apprentice in the herd, and thus won the girl he loved, I do not 

 know, but at any rate he had my best wishes. 



We left early on December 17, but the going was hard ; 

 my dogs were almost worn out, and we could only advance 

 slowly. Unfortunately the weather became worse, the tem- 

 perature rose almost to freezing point, the air was full of 

 moisture, which soaked our clothing, made the trail heavy, 

 and the sledge, with a weight of only 150 Ibs., was sorely 

 taxing the strength of my five worn-out animals. We reached 

 a large cabin owned by two partners, Messrs. Thompson and 

 Holm, who were mining, trading, whaling, sailing a schooner 

 at summertime, and held the office as recorder for a district 

 in which there was no mining. They were pleasant men, and 

 in their company we soon forgot that on the following day we 

 would have to start again, through sleet and fog and deep snow. 

 The going had been rough, my sledge had broken down once more, 

 and I left it there, while my load was placed on the sledge of 

 Jim Allen and Mr. Holm, who joined us for Candle. My dogs 

 were barely able to hold their traces tight, and two days later 

 they were taken out of harness altogether and allowed to 

 run at large. One of them was then so tired and broken- 

 spirited that he could not follow, but lay down in the snow and 

 probably died there. 



The temperature became a little lower on December 19, and 

 helped by Holm's fresh team we made fairly good progress, par- 

 ticularly after we had reached some large lakes with the snow 

 blown off their smooth surfaces. On December 20 we reached 

 Kegertavrook, where the " Blossom " mission and school is 

 situated. Mr. Geary, the missionary, was absent with the 

 reindeer herd which was just then passing, but Mrs. Geary was 

 very kind and invited us to dinner. In this place I saw the 

 first signs that civilization was not so very far off. Two large 

 stores were selling groceries and everything else an Eskimo 

 could require, either for money or for furs. The natives were 

 very well treated in these stores ; they were well paid for the 

 furs, and the prices of groceries were not exorbitant. This, 



