BACK OVER THE GLACIERS 195 



steep incline of which was to be descended. It was 

 as smooth and slippery as glass, and at several points 

 the dogs could get no footing, and had to be taken 

 out, while the loaded komatiks, with harpoon lines 

 attached, were hauled up the grades by hand. One 

 of these places was so slippery and steep that neither 

 Ishyatah nor myself could make the ascent until steps 

 were cut in the ice. 



This is the highest glacier between Etah and North 

 Star Bay, and the most difficult climb I had yet ex- 

 perienced. When the top of the abrupt rises had 

 been attained I was all but exhausted, and so thirsty 

 that I could scarcely speak. Upon making this 

 known to my companions a brief halt was made, the 

 sledges were turned upon edge to form a windbreak, 

 oil stoves lighted, and kettles of snow melted for 

 drinking water. I do not remember that I have ever 

 tasted anything quite so good and refreshing as that 

 water. It quenched my thirst, rested me and imbued 

 me with fresh ambition. Unmelted snow rather in- 

 creases than diminishes thirst, and it is not safe to 

 eat it. Travel for long periods without a halt 

 through the frozen Arctic wilds is not unlike travel 

 over the desert. When one is subjected to hard 

 physical exercise, which is generally the case, suffer- 

 ing from thirst is unavoidable, with very frequently 

 no opportunity to melt snow or ice, the only means of 

 quenching it. 



Here we came upon some fresh komatik tracks 

 running to the southward, and Eiseeyou and his 

 kooner, after a consultation, left us, to follow them, 



