282 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



At length, men exhausted and dogs so tired that 

 they lay down in their traces and refused to be urged 

 into further effort, wind blowing, snow drifting, and 

 my face and feet benumbed with cold, we searched 

 for a suitable snow-bank on which to build an igloo. 

 Snow to be available for this purpose must be hard 

 and firm, else blocks cannot be cut from it. Here 

 it was all too loose, and as a last resource our bivouac 

 was made in the lee of a convenient iceberg which 

 broke the force of the bitter wind. 



Though I wore dark glasses as a protection the 

 white glare had seriously affected my eyes. They 

 had a burning sensation and the eyeballs felt as 

 though sand or some similar substance was imbedded 

 in them the warning of approaching snow-blind- 

 ness. 



In addition to this, with insufficient shelter from 

 the north wind and consequent inability to protect 

 myself from the cold, I was far from comfortable, 

 but the Eskimos consoled me with the statement that 

 we had passed the roughest ice and that with a few 

 more "sleeps" would find ourselves in the musk-ox 

 country. 



Nature asserted herself and my sleep was long and 

 dreamless. When I awoke, much refreshed, the wind 

 had died, the sky was cloudless, the sun was shining, 

 and the day was the mildest of the year. The Eski- 

 mos had been up for several hours, but had not ven- 

 tured to disturb me. It is characteristic of them that 

 they will not awaken a slumbering white man 

 save in case of urgent need. 



