THE WHITE WORLD 



The next day it was raining very hard and the Eskimo 

 told us by means of signs that we could not proceed. 

 They are positive weather prophets and they understand 

 their own climate pretty well. They would listen to no 

 arguments, but dove into a little cavern wherein they had 

 made their quarters, the mouth of which they had covered 

 with a sail. It was evidently a favorite resort for Eskimo 

 outing parties, for it was full of fish bones and refuse of 

 all kinds, and had a most abominable odor; this seemed 

 to make our natives feel at home. The Eskimo must 

 delight in odors, he carries such powerful ones about with 

 him. We were forced to the windward of our guides, 

 otherwise they would have been intolerable. 



It rained and rained and rained. The night that followed 

 was the worst I ever spent. Our tent had been injudi- 

 ciously pitched on a side hill, and a small waterfall perco- 

 lated through the mossy floor, which now resembled a wet 

 sponge. We could make no fire because there was noth- 

 ing to burn, and the night was very cold. We had a 

 little oil stove which we kept going until it burned out, but 

 this did not help matters much. The tent's roof was so 

 wet that great drops continually fell upon our upturned 

 faces, as we. lay huddled together in the middle of the 

 camp, and I could push my boot down in the wet moss 

 and hear the water gurgle. There was not much sleep 

 that night for anybody. We fell to talking about com- 

 fortable waterproof beds in order to divert our minds. 



" Did you ever sleep in two empty flour barrels? " re- 

 marked Clark, whose experiences appeared to have been 

 varied. 



" No," replied a voice, " I'll admit that I have been in- 

 toxicated, but I have never been that bad." Nevertheless 

 Clark went on to describe how good and dry a couch 

 could be made of two empty barrels, and the idea of any 

 kind of dry couch was comforting. 



For three days we were cooped up by this storm, and 

 then the glad sunlight broke and wooed us back to rejoice 

 in life again. We pulled about thirty miles up the fiord 

 before we went into camp upon a mossy plateau on the 

 banks of a narrow stream. All around us great mountains 

 rose, and near by a huge glacier coursed downward to the 



