CHAPTER VIII. 



ON THE LOWER DUB AW NT. 



Until the evening of the 15th of August, we paddled on 

 through varied scenes of ice and open water, following the 

 barren shore-line in search of the outlet of Dubawnt Lake. 



In addition to game already mentioned, two young broods 

 of wild geese, not yet able to fly, were seen. It is commonly 

 said that the breeding place of the wild goose has never been 

 discovered, but here, at any rate, was the breeding place of 

 these. 



On the morning of the 16th we were early aroused by the 

 voice of a howling gale and the pelting rain, which was freely 

 beating through our flapping tents. Of these, our meagre 

 shelters, some of the guys were broken, and the tent occupied 

 by my brother and myself was only prevented from being 

 blown away by the unpleasant performance of scrambling out 

 in the darkness, exposing ourselves to the piercing wind and 

 driving rain, and securing it with new ropes and piles of 

 stones. Upon this occasion, also, blankets and clothing not 

 yet dry since the last wetting were again saturated. Every- 

 thing in the way of instruments, photographic supplies, note 

 books, etc., were piled together at one side of the tent and well 

 covered by a rubber sheet, and at the other side we made our- 

 selves as comfortable as possible, which was in truth pretty 

 miserable. 



This storm continued with fury for two days, and during 

 this time, wet and shivering in the tents, we found our only 

 spark of comfort in the brewing and imbibing of hot chocolate 

 prepared over the spirit lamp. On the afternoon of the second 



93 



