192 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



of my first arctic summer. The winter I had liked very 

 well. It had resembled in general the twenty winters 

 I have lived in Dakota. The cold had been no more in- 

 tense than the Dakota cold although somewhat more uni- 

 form and lasting about two months longer. The storms 

 had been rather milder than the worst Dakota blizzards. 

 The long periods of clear and cold weather had been more 

 exhilarating than any climate I had known before. 



But although the winter had been pleasant, I looked 

 with the keenest interest toward the coming of spring. 

 The beginnings of spring were disappointing. The latter 

 part of April resembled January in Scotland or Nebraska, 

 and was rather disagreeable. May was worse. It re- 

 sembled the worst kind of January you get in the south 

 of England or in Missouri. The first rain came on the 

 6th of May. 



One of the pleasant things about the North is that the 

 winter snow is perfectly dry. But in May the northern 

 snow has the sogginess familiar in southern countries and 

 makes your feet wet unless you wear water boots. We 

 did commence wearing the Eskimo style seal skin water 

 boots, which are lighter and in every way better than 

 any other water boots known to me. But although they 

 are good water boots for summer, they are cold footgear 

 for spring, for the chill of the damp snow outside of them 

 penetrates through and produces the same sort of con- 

 dens;! t ion on the inside that you get from wearing rubber 

 boots wading in cold water. Although perfectly water- 

 proof, neither rubber boots nor seal skin boots can keep 

 your feet dry, for they become wet inside with the con- 

 densation of the body moisture. You can travel through 

 six months of winter with feet dry every day inside deer 

 skin boots that are not waterproof, but you become wet 



