64 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



masses. Many large ice islands, some of them sev- 

 eral acres in extent and rising in ponderous volume, 

 dotted the surface of Smith Sound. They were the 

 product doubtless of Humboldt Glacier, a hundred 

 miles to the northward. 



In Lifeboat Cove we made a temporary bivouac, 

 and were preparing to eat when we were joined by 

 three women who had walked from Etah enroute to 

 Annootok. We fed them, and they went their way, 

 while the rest of us, after much discussion, and ob- 

 jection on the part of the Eskimos, turned back to 

 Etah, as any further attempt to work our boat 

 northward through the floe, at this time, was plainly 

 hopeless. 



A light north wind gave us a fine run back to 

 Etah. It is a peculiarity which I observed about 

 the winds in the vicinity of Etah, that they almost 

 invariably blow from north or south. East or west 

 winds rarely occur. This is doubtless due to the fact 

 that high cliffs on either side of the sound form a sort 

 of funnel through which the winds draw as they 

 would through a great chimney. 



Unfavorable conditions, with waters choked by 

 ice and adverse winds, continued. Signs of winter 

 increased daily. Until this time thousands of little 

 auks had been seen, but suddenly they disappeared, 

 as did the ducks and other water fowl, and now not 

 one was to be seen. Apparently they all left at 

 once. I missed them greatly, for their going and 

 their absence left an ominous stillness in our world, 



