ON THE SMITH SOUND ICE 315 



thing they are never sure of and cannot indicate. 



Though some of the specimens secured were not 

 so large as I might have wished, at least six were 

 equal to any the Eskimos had ever seen, and I was, 

 on the whole, well satisfied with the results of the 

 hunt. We already had full loads for nearly all of 

 the komatiks, and at most could not have carried more 

 than four additional heads. 



In view of these circumstances, I gave the word to 

 return to camp, where we arrived after a tiresome 

 march in the teeth of a keen northwest wind, and 

 began at once to prepare for our retreat. 



Since leaving Annootok I had not touched water 

 to face or hands, and was as dirty as the dirtiest 

 Eskimo. As a matter of fact their hands were much 

 cleaner than mine, for they had a habit of rubbing 

 and cleaning them now and again with snow, a thing 

 that I never attempted. The prospect of a bath when 

 we should reach Annootok was therefore a pleasant 

 thought. 



The young musk-oxen tf ere doing well, and I had 

 high hopes of success in getting them out. At first 

 they were very troublesome to feed. They had not 

 been educated to a condensed milk diet, and until 

 hunger drove them to it, I had difficulty in inducing 

 them to accept it ; but in a remarkably short time they 

 learned to like and look for it, and became quite tame 

 and contented. A constant guard had to be kept over 

 them, too, lest the ever watchful and blood-thirsty 

 dogs attack and kill them, and this was no small part 

 of the care they imposed upon us. 



