CHAPTER XVII 



INTO THE ARCTIC 



FROM Unalaska, we headed north for the 

 Arctic Ocean. For one day of calm, we 

 lay again off the little Eskimo village of 

 St. Lawrence Bay and again had the natives as 

 our guests. Peter made an elaborate toilet in 

 expectation of seeing once more his little Es- 

 kimo sweetheart, but she did not come aboard. 

 A little breeze came walking over the sea and 

 pushed us on nortnward. On August 15, we 

 sailed through Behring Straits and were at last 

 in the Arctic. 



The straits are thirty-six miles wide, with East 

 Cape, a rounded, dome-shaped mass of black 

 basalt, on the Asiatic side and on the American 

 s^ide Cape Prince of Wales, a headland of 

 sharper outline, but neither so lofty nor so sheer. 



In between the two capes and in line with them, 



191 



