LOST ON THE ICE-CAP 



thousand feet above the level of the sea. That moraine was 

 a barren spot, wind-swept and bleak in the extreme. One 

 of the peculiarities of the interior of Greenland is the con- 

 stantly blowing wind in the direction of the slope of the 

 land, save, of course, in the case of general storms. It 

 was this constant wind, which in the preceding October 

 had sent the snow from the interior sweeping across the 

 moraine like an avalanche, and had held our entire party at 

 bay in the snow-house for more than two weeks waiting for 

 a chance to get across and into the interior. 



When I reached the former camping place on that Sun- 

 day afternoon, about 4 o'clock, it was already growing 

 dark, as the sun was not yet high enough to make the days 

 very long, and I could see no sign of the snow-house where 

 we had slept so often during the fall. 



In its place was a smooth white mound of snow. The 

 summit of the moraine was bare, as no snow could remain 

 on its wind-swept crest, and the rocks and gravel of which it 

 was composed were heaped in little conical-shaped masses, 

 making it an easy matter for me to pick out the exact 

 location of the dug-out which had been covered by the big 

 snowdrift. Assisted by the two natives, I began digging 

 with my hunting knife, and soon reached the roof of the 

 house which was to provide our night's lodging. 



During the winter the constantly blowing wind had 

 sifted snow through the cracks in the walls of the house 

 until the interior was a solid mass of hard snow. It was 

 8 o'clock when at last we reached the canvas which covered 

 the floor of the snow domicile, and using this to patch up 

 the big hole in the top of the house, we made ourselves com- 

 fortable, and after a hearty meal all three went to sleep 

 wrapped up warmly in reindeer skins. 



In the morning I found that during the night I had, in 

 my sleep, broken my pocket compass, and the thought of 

 going into the interior without a compass being prepos- 

 terous, I started back to the lodge to replace my loss, leav- 

 ing the two natives with instructions to put the snow- 

 house in good condition for a future camping place. Had 

 I returned to the moraine at once after getting the instru- 

 ment, much trouble might have been avoided, but Lieuten- 

 ant Peary invited me to remain to dinner at the house, as 



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