HUNTING THE NARWHAL 357 



Before camp was reached the snow turned into 

 pouring rain, which deluged everything and very 

 quickly transformed the whole country into a sea of 

 slush. The shack, wet before, was now almost un- 

 inhabitable. Kulutinguah fortunately possessed a 

 tupek which was not in use, and this he placed at my 

 service and helped me pitch it. With all the loose 

 boards I could find I made a floor for it, raised a 

 little above the wet, cold earth, moved my sleeping- 

 bag and other belongings in, and found it a great 

 improvement over the dreary shack, which I was 

 quite certain was responsible for an attack of rheu- 

 matism from which I suffered. It was very pleas- 

 ant to awake the next morning, after a good night's 

 sleep, to lie cosily in my sleeping-bag and hear the 

 rain pouring on the tupek and realize that I was 

 snug and dry. 



The whaleboat had been left on the edge of the 

 ice when we returned from the unsuccessful narwhal 

 hunt, as the Eskimos were of the opinion that there 

 was no immediate danger of the ice going but. 

 Billy and I had gone to bed and were just dropping 

 into sleep on the following evening, when Kulutin- 

 guah came in to say that the ice was breaking up 

 a short distance from the boat and we must hurry 

 to save it. We got up at once, and with Kulutin- 

 guah and a few other Eskimos to assist, hauled it 

 to the nearest point of land and safety. It was dis- 

 agreeable work, with a strong wind blowing and rain 

 and snow falling, but we were fortunate to have se- 

 cured it as we did, for the ice was crumbling away 



