ANOTHER SLEDGE TRIP. 



478 



I had previously found at Kodlunarn several pieces of wood at 

 the bottom of this trench, the larger portion of it being of the 

 character described by this old Innuit. It was beneath stone that 

 had fallen from the bank, the top of the stick being dry, while the 

 base was imbedded firmly in rocks and sand. The old Innuit 

 said that a good deal of something soft (wood) used to be in the 

 bottom of the trench. (Manuscript records of Frobisher's expedi- 

 tion now in .the British Museum, but seen by me only since my 

 return, show that quantities of timber, carried out for the purpose 

 of building a fort, were buried at the bottom of one of his mines.) 



Being questioned farther, the old man said that only three men 

 built the ship ; the others stood around " all same as captains." 

 The Innuits did not help make the ship, but they helped the hod- 

 lunas get the ship down into tarrio. 



On December 15th, the thermometer being 20° below zero, the 

 wind light from the northwest, the weather a little cloudy, I took 

 an early breakfast of whale-steaks and coffee, and at 5 45 A.M. 

 was on my sledge, to which were harnessed eight clogs, the place 

 of my destination being Jones's Cape. I had with me my Innuit 

 dog-driver " Kooksraith" and young Smith. Shortly after start- 

 ing, and upon getting into some snow saturated with sea-water, a 

 surprising phenomenon was seen. When the clogs put their feet 

 into the snow and water, it was like stepping into a flood of molt- 

 en gold, and the phosphorescent light thus produced was not con- 

 fined to the space beneath the dogs and the sledge, but spread it- 

 self around, and continued for several seconds. 



In an hour and twenty minutes we crossed the bay, and reached 

 the land on the other side ; in an hour more we were at the crest 

 of Bayard Taylor Pass, and in less than another hour had safely 

 accomplished the steep descent, and were on the smooth ice of 

 Lincoln Bay, an arm of the Countess of Warwick's Sound. Aft- 

 er lunching on frozen black skin, we pursued our journey, and ar- 

 rived at Oopungnewing at 1 P.M. There I made a fruitless search 

 for the anvil, and in an hour resumed our trip. At 8 10 P.M. 

 we reached Jones's Cape, having traveled thirty-five miles, and 

 were soon greeted by the familiar voices of many Innuits we knew. 

 Among them were Sampson and his family, and I was speedily 

 located in their hospitable abode. 



That night I slept closely packed among seven of the Innuits, 

 the little girl Puk-e-ney-er being on one side of me, and her uncle 

 on the other. On rising,! took two ounces of whale skin for my 



