Hunting Musk- Ox with the Dog Ribs 



storm-tossed sailor. We were all too much 

 fatigued to cut much brush, and fell asleep 

 in a little hole scooped in the snow, before 

 a few logs which made such an uncomfor- 

 tably hot fire that we did not enjoy it as 

 we had anticipated. But we would no 

 longer have to sleep upon snow or flat 

 rocks ; we would not have to sleep with 

 our moccasins and frozen blanket footings 

 next our bodies to dry them, and at noon- 

 day we could have tewoh to quench our 

 thirst. 



After five hours' rest we were awakened 

 by Jimmy, who reminded us that there 

 was nothing to eat, and that we must push 

 rapidly on. My load weighed over five 

 hundred pounds, and the dogs were getting 

 pitifully weak. I pushed on the sled, and 

 carried a load on my back to assist them. 

 We were three days in reaching the camps. 

 We only rested five hours at night, and 

 then hurried on again, as the teams were 

 failing rapidly for want of food. On the 

 twenty-eighth day the first signs of a thaw 

 appeared ; the snow softened just enough 

 to cause it to stick to our snow-shoes, so 

 that it made them heavy to carry, and, 

 worse still, lumps of ice would accumulate 

 every few minutes which soon blistered the 

 bottoms of our feet over the entire surface. 



325 



