MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. 153 



heavy boat, and too soft to walk upon. The whole sheet, mean- 

 while, cracked from the edge on either side, slowly but surely 

 moves with the current until it is gradually taken out to sea to 

 be lost in the gulf or ocean. Judge then the fate of those unfor- 

 tunate beings who have remained in the boat, thus inclosed, mov- 

 ing only when it moves, halting only when it halts. 



The passage on the west side of the island, as I have said, was 

 fortunately clear, so that we gained the opposite side of the bay 

 without accident or delay. This left us half-way to our place of 

 destination, the remainder to be tramped over the hills, with snow 

 knee-deep to opposite the houses, to which we must get by shouting 

 for a boat to come and take us over should the water between 

 be open, as we had reason to fear. Having called at a house 

 of one of the inhabitants near by to deliver some messages, we 

 returned and began our walk, or rather tramp, over the partially 

 frozen ice of the river at this point and towards the hills beyond, 

 over which we were obliged to travel. 



I have read, in books of arctic travel, of snow-capped hills and 

 of snow-filled valleys ; of rivers and bays frozen over with dark, 

 semi-transparent salt-water ice, but never before had I experienced 

 the pleasure of beholding its reality. Now I saw them in all the 

 half-frozen splendor of a semi-arctic latitude. I could also tramp 

 over their treacherous surfaces with a feeling of perfect safety 

 knowing that the distance to the houses up the river was not far. 



The walking was by no means easy. We first crossed the river 

 on the ice which at this point was sufficiently strong to bear us. 

 The ice was not very solid, and big holes and huge cracks were 

 to be seen everywhere about us, so that it required a great deal of 

 manoeuvring to find secure footing and a safe passage between 

 them. We would walk along safely enough for some distance, 

 and then the dark colored patches of water, seen on the surface 

 of the snow, would show us where the dangerous places were ; 

 then again the ice contained large cracks, and we were obliged to 

 prove its solidity with a stick before trusting our feet to step upon 

 it. Sometimes the ice would be as large floating cakes when 



