AN ARCTIC HONEYMOON 



denly, a report like that of a cannon startled us, and we 

 looked just in time to see a massive berg, out at sea break 

 apart in the middle, tremble and topple over, a large plat- 

 form of ice rising from under the water, while the mighty 

 mass above, with a noise like that of a giant groaning, 

 slowly sank upon its side. 



After visiting the cairn built by Lieutenant Peary on his 

 first trip north, we started down. The descent was much 

 easier, of course, but some of the places were so steep that 

 the only thing to do was to simply sit down and slide. 

 Mr. Lee would go first, and, landing safely at the bottom of 

 the grade, would stand ready to catch me, should I be 

 unable to stop. There were patches of vegetation on which 

 we found many berries growing similar to our huckleber- 

 ries, of which I paused to eat so often that Mr. Lee felt 

 doubtful about our reaching home that night; so he set 

 his course with a view to keeping away from them. He 

 had carried his rifle part way up the mountain, and arranged 

 with Nicholas to bring the boat across the harbor when he 

 heard three rifle shots. This would save us going over- 

 land about a mile. But before we reached the place where 

 the rifle had been left, we saw the boat coming; the whole 

 tribe, it seems, had been watching for us. 



Hardly a day went by that we did not row on the harbor 

 in Herr Anderson's small boat. One day we were just 

 outside the harbor, taking photos of icebergs, when a whale 

 came so near our boat, one could almost have hit it with 

 a stone. I proposed getting out of the way, but my hus- 

 band and Nicholas assured me that there was no dan- 

 ger and that it was but a little whale, though an animal 

 the length of a small house didn't look so very tiny to 

 me, nor so harmless either. It interested me to watch 

 it spout, and observe how great a distance it could go 

 with one stroke of its tail. In this case distance certainly 

 lent enchantment to the view. 



One day, just as we had finished our lunch, a short, dark 

 little Eskimo woman appeared at our door and told us she 

 was very tired, having come overland from Disco fiord, a 

 place about forty miles away. We invited her in, and gave 

 her some hot coffee, cold tongue, cheese and biscuit, which 

 she ate with relish. She spoke English very well, and in 



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