WHEN THE ESKIMOS LEFT US 265 



The other phenomenon occurred, according to my 

 reckoning, on the day before Easter. It was a very 

 cold day, with a rising north wind before which the 

 snow was shifting, and drifting heavily around the 

 mountain-tops. Billy and I had been walking and 

 were returning late in the afternoon with frozen 

 cheeks and noses. As we approached camp I re- 

 marked that the drifting snow had formed into a 

 dark cloud near the peak of one of the mountains. 

 Through the cloud the sun shone in two direct, power- 

 ful streams, which had the appearance of two per- 

 manent search-lights trained in opposite directions. 

 Surrounding the snow-cloud, in a complete circle, or 

 halo, was a luminous rainbow appearing in an ex- 

 ceptionally wide band, with unusually bright colors 

 I never saw brighter. Its duration was fifteen 

 minutes and it was so unusual that I sat upon a cake 

 of ice and watched it until at length it faded from 

 view. 



We were becoming worried at the long delay of the 

 Eskimos in coming to our relief. They were well 

 aware of our shortage of coal and meat and some of 

 them were to have been in Annootok with loads of 

 supplies from Etah long before. Our shack, through 

 lack of coal to heat it, was very uncomfortable at 

 all times. On Easter Sunday night I in some way 

 pulled the coverings off my head while sleeping and 

 painfully froze my right ear. We frequently 

 climbed a high mountain back of camp to view the 

 horizon to the southward to watch for sledges, but 

 day after day met only with disappointment. 



