THE LONG NIGHT 75 



I believe I had ever experienced. The stars shone 

 with an unusual luster. The moon, in its last quarter, 

 cast an uncanny glow, lighting the thousand fantas- 

 tically-formed icebergs, which spread out before us 

 over Smith Sound, in such a manner that the prismatic 

 crystal masses were transformed into brilliant, spark- 

 ling gems of huge proportions, scintillating with 

 every color of the spectrum. 



Apart from a musk-ox hunt, when the proper sea- 

 son should arrive, I was controlled by no definite plans 

 during my stay in the Arctic. I was not bound to 

 remain in any particular place, and I decided there- 

 fore to take advantage of as many opportunities as 

 possible to accompany the Eskimos on their frequent 

 hunting expeditions, and to put myself in close contact 

 with their everyday life. Several of the Eskimos 

 were preparing for a hunting trip for reindeer and 

 bear in the vicinity of Humboldt Glacier, seventy- 

 five or eighty miles to the northward. They told me 

 that the year before, Kulutinguah had killed six bears 

 and a number of deer there, and I desired at once to 

 be of the present party. They were quite willing 

 that I accompany them, and on a cold, clear morning, 

 with dogs and sledges our party headed north. 



Approaching Cape Leiper a broad lead covered 

 with thin young ice was encountered, three of 

 Kulutinguah's dogs broke through, and he barely 

 escaped getting into the water himself. This cooled 

 my aspirations for the present. I did not feel that 

 the hunt would warrant me in taking a long chance 

 of getting wet, which would certainly; have resulted 



