144 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



hope of finding more favorable conditions for follow- 

 ing game farther north. 



Never was there a brighter moon nor a more trans- 

 parent, luminous night. All around us mighty ice- 

 bergs assumed every imaginable shape, with spires 

 and pinnacles towering hundreds of feet above our 

 heads, the blue-green surfaces reflecting the moon- 

 light like great mirrors, or casting mysterious 

 shadows on the white surface of the snow; frost 

 crystals sparkled everywhere like myriads of dia- 

 monds; rugged, austere hills rose on our right. All 

 these combined to form a picture the beauty of which 

 is beyond description a veritable fairy land of 

 lights and colors, of shadows and mystery. How 

 worth seeing it wasl How worth all the hardships 

 and toil I 



The night, the good traveling, the surroundings, 

 were exhilarating. Every now and again the dogs 

 would break into a dead run, to come suddenly to a 

 halt at a seal hole, or to follow a stray fox, which 

 would dash away at top speed, and looked like a little 

 animated black ball as it scurried over the ice. 



I never ceased to marvel at the endurance of the 

 dogs. We had now been three days out of Annootok, 

 and not a morsel had they had to eat since leaving 

 home, for the Eskimos brought nothing for them on 

 the sledges, depending upon killing bear. During 

 these three days we had been going steadily forward, 

 halting only long enough to straighten and unravel 

 the traces when that became necessary, which was 

 once every hour or two. The Eskimos took turns 



