AN AUTUMN JOURNEY 91 



and to learn how the caribou-hunting Eskimos lived. 

 This suited all parties. Roxy would go inland with his 

 own dog team to fetch caribou meat and I would accom- 

 pany him with Stcn's dogs. 



We started October 18th, Roxy and I each with a 

 team and the other hunters with four teams. A boy 

 of about eighteen, named Sitsak, accompanied Roxy. As 

 a favor which we expected them to repay later in deer 

 meat, we helped them carry their gear. This sharing 

 of the loads made all our sledges light. 



We traveled slowly, however, and for many reasons. 

 One was that we were in no hurry and there was much 

 to talk about. We enjoyed the camp life, sat up joking 

 and telling stories till after midnight, and slept till the 

 middle of the day. The days, too, were exceedingly 

 short. When they were cloudy there were not more than 

 four or five hours of traveling light. For another thing, 

 the snow was not deep and, as we came into the moun- 

 tains, the ground became rockier, necessitating many 

 detours. Even the light sledges dragged heavily when 

 the runners cut through the snow to the ground or rock 

 beneath. Then we seemed to be traveling a sort of 

 diagonal course across valleys. We did not follow any 

 one valley for long but would leave it and climb over a 

 steep ridge, descending sometimes with considerable dif- 

 ficulty into the next valley. Altogether, it took us five 

 days to climb to the crest of the mountains, although I 

 do not think the distance can have been over thirty 

 miles. Beyond that it was down hill and easier. 



On the way up the mountains we traveled at first 

 through a river valley that had clumps of willows here 

 and there five or eight feet high. As we climbed higher 

 we saw continually fewer willows standing, but my com- 



