XVII 



OFF TO ELLESMERE LAND 



THE weather was clear, beautiful, ideal, as we 

 pulled out of Annootok at half -past two on 

 the morning of May ninth, bound for Elles- 

 mere Land and the musk-ox country. This trip was 

 the one of all the hunting trips that I had looked for- 

 ward to with high anticipation of reward. If my 

 hopes were to be crowned with success I felt that I 

 should be amply rewarded for all the hardship and 

 discomfort experienced during the preceding months 

 and the long night. 



My expedition was composed of six sledges, each 

 in charge of one Eskimo. Eiseeyou was my head 

 man, and with his komatik I traveled. The other 

 sledges were in charge of Tukshu, Etukishuk, Ahwe- 

 lah, and the two Oxpuddyshous, all capable and active 

 travelers and hunters. Several others, not attached 

 to my party, accompanied us across Smith Sound, but 

 there left us. 



Our course was to the northward, that we might 

 pass around an open lead some ten miles out on Smith 

 Sound. The crisp Arctic atmosphere was brilliant 

 and exhilarating, and for five miles the ice, smooth 

 and perfect, enabled us to make rapid progress. 



272 



