SOFT SNOW 



through the soft snow to Hebron on the following 

 morning. 



On the way home from Hebron, a few days later, 

 we had to cross Nappartok Bay, a place with an un- 

 ; enviable reputation. No sledge driver will take upon 

 i himself to guarantee a fast run if he has Nappartok 

 Bay to cross, for there the snow is always soft ; and 

 there, on my way home from Hebron, I had my 

 i first taste of the real quality of a soft track. As soon 

 as we left the land, the dogs began to wallow in the 

 clinging snow, and the sledge nearly came to a stop. 

 The poor brutes seemed to be actually swimming, 

 unable to reach the bottom of the snow and get a 

 foothold, and floundering as they tried to lift their 

 legs above the surface for another step. By a sort of 

 instinct they dropped into line one behind the other, 

 so that each dog had the advantage of the trampled 

 track of the ones before it. I felt most sorry for the 

 (leading dog, as she went shuffling and whining along 

 iwith nose down and tail up, but Jerry slipped on his 

 isnowshoes and tramped ahead of her to give her some 

 Sort of a road to follow. It was a curious sight : the 

 trudging little Eskimo, with his feet wide apart, 

 'swinging the big rackets round and planting them 

 one in front of the other, and behind him the dogs, 

 marching in a narrow furrow, and looking like a long 

 line of waving tails. 



Sometimes the snow was too deep for them ; they 

 looked round and whined, as if to say " Do you really 

 mean us to go on ? Why not camp until it is 

 better ? " but Julius said " Hu-it," and on they went, 

 frying their hardest and whistling with distress. 



In one place even Julius's " Hu-it," repeated over 

 md over again, failed to move them, though they 



145 K 



