WINTER UPON US 6/ 



more deerskins, but needed " pussy " skins for his kamiks, or 

 boots, kayak, tupic (tent), etc., and he would leave us and 

 watch the seal-holes, walking home at night. He told us 

 how to fosten his mikkie, and then, after I had kodaked him 

 sitting on his seal chair at a hole, we went on. I ran along 

 at the upstanders of Mr. Peary's sledge, he being all alone ; 

 but the ice being rather slippery and the dogs traveling along 

 at a run, I soon found it difficult to keep on my feet, and so 

 jumped on the sledge with Mr. Peary, and rode the greater 

 part of the time. The two dogs pulled us easily, the sledge 

 and load weighing about five hundred pounds. The dogs are 

 fastened to the sledge by single traces, and are guided with- 

 out reins by the driver with a long whip and much shouting. 

 Tlie mikkie not understanding our language, and Mr. Peary 

 not knowing the Eskimo terms, and not understanding the lan- 

 guage of the whip, we had no means of guiding our team ; 

 besides, in many places the ice had to be tested by a member 

 of the party going ahead with an alpenstock and "feeling" 

 it. Often detours had to be made, and several times we had 

 to rush over places where the ice buckled under us, and it 

 seemed as though it must let us through; for these reasons 

 we allowed the other sledge to take the lead. This we could 

 do only by stopping and letting the boys get one fourth or 

 one half of a mile ahead; then, giving our dogs the word, they 

 would scud along at the top of their speed, not making any 

 attempt to stop until they had caught up to the other sledge, 

 which they did in a few minutes. In this way we finally 



