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CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



passed. The work facing us was hard, for before us lay another 

 portage with soft snow, but the weather was so beautiful that 

 we did not feel as depressed and miserable as usual under the 

 same conditions. The trail was cut through a heavy forest ; on 

 either side were the dark trees, lifting up their leafless branches 

 against the clear sky. Large blotches of snow hung all over 



LARGE BLOTCHES OF SNOW HUNG ALL OVER THE TRUNKS AND 



BRANCHES. 



the trunks and branches, and if a bird alighted on a tree, or if 

 we lightly touched one of the branches, a shower of soft downy 

 snow would descend upon us, and every twig, every branch, 

 was encased in frozen snow, which glittered and gleamed like 

 diamonds in the bright sunlight. Ahead of us, where the trail 

 went towards the sun, the air was full of minute ice particles, 

 gleaming and glittering with all the colours of the rainbow. To 

 our left we had a lofty mountain, visible now and then through 

 a clearing in the forest, dazzlingly white against a dark blue sky. 

 All was quiet, dead quiet ; the silence was only broken now 

 and then by the chirping of a snow sparrow, which would hop 

 along talking to itself at a respectful distance from the sledge, 

 and looking at us in wonder and surprise. The bells attached 

 to the harness of our dogs chimed out over the country, the 

 sound penetrating the great stillness, sounding in the frosty air 

 loud and solemn, like church bells. 



