CHAPTER XI 



SLEDGE JOURNEY INTO INGLEFIELD GULF 



The Start from RedclifTe — Our Team — Temporary Village on Northumberland 

 Island — A Crazy Woman — A Never-to-be-forgotten Night in a Native Snow- 

 igloo — From the Snow- village to Keati — Across Whale Sound to Netchiolumy 

 — An Eskimo Metropolis — Aged Dames — From Netchiolumy to Ittiblu — 

 Midnight Glories — The Solitary Habitation at Ittiblu and its Inhabitants — My 

 Coldest Sleep in Greenland — Nauyahleah, the Ancient Gossip — A Native 

 Graveyard — From Ittiblu to the Head of Inglefield Gulf — Meeting with a 

 Traveling-party. 



Monday, April i8. Having completed our arrangements 

 for a week's exploration of Inglefield Gulf, we started from 

 Redcliffe about noon with the large dog-sledge, drawn by six 

 dogs and driven by Kyo. 



The day was very bright, and the sun shone warm all the 

 time. The traveling as far as Cape Cleveland was good, but 

 then it began to grow heavy, and before we had gone half- 

 way across there were places where the dogs sank in to their 

 bellies and almost swam, while we sank down to our knees in 

 a semi-slush ; the sledges, however, went along nicely. For- 

 tunately, there were only a few such places, and as we got 

 near the west end of Herbert Island the ice became smoother 

 and harder, and the dogs sped along, two of us riding at a 

 time, and sometimes all three. 



