34 The Musk-ox 



into a sheet of ice before I had run three miles; 

 and as there was no fire in the Barren Grounds to 

 thaw it, of course it was an impossible thing to 

 wear in that region and a poor thing in any 

 region of low temperature. After other experi- 

 ments, I found the simplest and most comfortable 

 head-gear to be my own long hair, which hung 

 even with my jaw, bound about just above the 

 ears by a handkerchief, and the open hood of 

 my caribou-skin capote drawn forward over all. 

 I learned a great many things about hunting 

 the musk-ox on this first effort, and not the 

 least memorable was the lesson of how very 

 difficult an animal it is to score on without the 

 aid of a dog. This is solely due to the lie of 

 the land. The physical character of the Barren 

 Grounds is of the rolling or prairie type. Stand- 

 ing on the first elevation after passing beyond 

 the last timber, you look north across a great 

 expanse of desert, apparently flat country dotted 

 with lakes innumerable, and broken here and 

 there by rock-topped ridges. When you get 

 actually into the country, you find these ridges, 

 though not high, are yet higher than they look 

 to be, and the travelling in general very rough. 

 In summer there is no travel over the Barren 



