THE WINTER PARTY 4.3 



tions went ahead for this formidable journey to Hebron, i ^o 

 miles to the northward beyond the Kiglerpait mountain range 

 which is over 1000 feet high. But, as so often happened when 

 plans had been laid, the barometer fell and high winds prevented 

 the teams starting for the next five days. Only the party knew 

 where the komatiks were bound when the weather cleared and 

 this they kept to themselves, the rest of Nain thinking these 

 preparations were for the establishment of a survey camp. Baker 

 did not want Renatus to get wind of his intentions as he certainly 

 might have done, news travelling fast across these wastes. An 

 Eskimo party tried going out to gather wood on the fourth day 

 of the gale but had not returned by 8 . 30 at night with the weather 

 as thick as a hedge and with soft snow lying in drifts waist deep. 

 The church bell was tolled to give them their direction and, 

 leaving their komatiks behind in the woods, they struggled in 

 with their teams at 10 o'clock. 



On 3 I st January the weather at last cleared and it was good 

 enough to make a start for Hebron. Three komatiks were taken, 

 Henry Voisey with his team, with Stevenson as passenger. Buck 

 and Bingham with a team of nine dogs on the big komatik, and 

 Dennis with his own team on the small komatik. Smith and 

 Gillingham from the post at Nutak had also been waiting for fine 

 weather to return to Nutak, and they too set out. 



The route followed was from Nain, past Base Point and Stony 

 Island (names given by Challenger to these two places), up and 

 over Itilialuk neck and down into Challenger Cove ; then straight 

 on up Port Manvers Run. Both 'rattles' were open water, the 

 tidal stream being too strong to allow ice to form, and these were 

 skirted by going over the necks of land. Going down the further 

 side of the second neck a slight mishap occurred to the team on 

 the big komatik, the bridle being cut among some tree stumps 

 leaving the whole team to go careering off along the trail ; Buck 

 stood up on the komatik and let out a loud 'view holloa' which 

 was heard by Henry ahead on the trail and he ran to stop the 

 runaway team and bring them back. Tikkeratsuk, the goal for 

 the first day, was not reached until about 8 p.m., 3^ miles having 

 been covered in lo hours; for the last hour the party travelled 

 by moonlight. The travellers put up for the night in a lonely 

 shack belonging to an Eskimo called Ama Panagonjak, whose 



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