68 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



wind both against us we were unable to gain a foot 

 of headway, and were forced to the shelter of Life- 

 boat Cove, where land was made at four o'clock in 

 the morning. The shore rocks were very high, most 

 of them encrusted with thick ice, and it was with 

 difficulty that we finally found a safe place for the 

 boat some fifty yards south of the place where the 

 Polaris was wrecked. 



It was no small task to remove the heavy boxes 

 from the boat, and when it was at length accom- 

 plished, the Eskimos improvised a tupek * out of the 

 sail. We divided ourselves into two-hour watches, I 

 standing first watch. It was lonely and cold and 

 very hard to keep awake, so I walked up and down 

 the rocks until my watch was up at seven, after which 

 it did not take me long to get asleep. 



I must mention the marvelous sunset that illumined 

 the sky on the night of the sixteenth. It was the 

 most wonderful I had ever witnessed, with its gor- 

 geous blending of colors from blood red to rich 

 orange and orange to saffron, with brilliant purple 

 splashes. Its duration was long, transforming our 

 surroundings the waters of Smith Sound, the floes, 

 the pinnacled icebergs, and rugged shore cliffs into 

 a world of transcendent beauty, the glory of Heaven 

 reflected upon earth. 



When all hands were called at eleven o'clock for 

 breakfast, the cold had increased, and snow was fall- 

 ing thick and fast. It was not until half -past one 



i Tent. 



