HUNTING THE BEAR 259 



Below Cape Scott, Kulutinguah joined us. His hunt 

 had been rewarded with one small bear and one deer, 

 and he was ready to go back. Here another miserable 

 camp was made, followed by another day of suffering. 

 As I walked my nose was again frozen, and presently 

 the tips of the fingers on both hands turned white. 

 Then my feet, painful and aching with the cojd, sud- 

 denly lost all feeling, and I knew that they too had 

 frozen. But there was nothing to do but push on and 

 endeavour to reach Annootok as quickly as possible. 



When we camped at the end of that day's march 

 the Eskimos pulled off my boots to find the bottoms 

 and heels of both feet frozen, how badly they could 

 not tell. They thrust them under their shirts and 

 rubbed them briskly until the frost was removed. Then 

 I drew on my socks, and they instructed me to pull on 

 my boots without a moment's delay, for had I left them 

 off for even a little while my feet would have swelled 

 to such an extent that I could not have got the boots 

 on again. 



The hardest part of winter travelling in the Arctic 

 is the fact that no artificial heat can be had in camp 

 to overcome the intense and continuous cold. 



When the march was begun in the morning my 

 feet were so sore that I could walk but little, and I 

 had to forgo, therefore, the exercise of running, and 

 sit on the komatik wrapped in deerskin. The Eskimos 

 lightened one of the sledges that the dogs might haul 

 me over rough places, but riding under these conditions 

 was anything but a pleasant experience. 



For two days I was unable to make entries in my 

 journal, but it was the same story of intermittent rough 

 and smooth going, miserable camps, and unvarying cold, 



