66 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



tive journey to the head of the bay, and I have been busy all 

 day getting our room, or rather our bed, in order. All the 

 boxes have been removed from under the bed, to my great 

 delight, and put into the lean-to at the south end of the 

 house. It felt and smelt like a damp cellar under there, but 

 now that the air has a chance to circulate freely, I think it 

 will be better. 



I have not been out of the house to-day. It is quite dark 

 at six o'clock, and on a cloudy day, as to-day, we lighted the 

 lamp at five o'clock. 



Matt has started in as lunch-maker; this gives me nearly 

 all day to myself Our first table-cloth, of unbleached cot- 

 ton, also made its debut ; it is a great improvement on bare 

 boards. 



Wednesday, October 7. This morning, at about ten 

 o'clock, we started out on our first sledging-trip up the bay 

 in search of " tooktoo " (reindeer). 



Astrup, Gibson, and Matt pulled our sledge, while Jack 

 and Frank, our Newfoundland dogs, and Mikkie, were har- 

 nessed to Ikwa's. We were delighted to see that our dogs 

 would pull, but Ikwa soon decided that Frank was " peeuk 

 nahmee " (no good), so the boys put him to their sledge, but 

 he preferred pulling backward to pulling forward ; by coaxing 

 they persuaded him to help them somewhat, but it was alwa}'s 

 hard work to get him started after a stop. 



After journeying about four miles, our Eskimo suddenly 

 stopped his sledge and explained that he did not want any 



