MASTING SHIP. 



479 



then raised for me to write my own name, which I did, also pro- 

 nouncing it. Then "Hall! Hall! Hall!" rung from tongue to 

 tongue through the igloo amid general laughter. 



After securing what skins I wanted, I started on my return to 

 the ship on December 18th with the sledge and dogs. A few 

 minutes after passing Kodlunarn we rounded the point of Tik- 

 koon, the place I had visited on the 23d of September. Having 

 passed by this spot and made a short distance, less than a quar- 

 ter of a mile, " Kooksmith" pointed to a bluff on the main land, 

 saying "Ki-ete, oo-mi-ark-chu-a Kodlunarn" — that is, the ship 

 came from Kodlunarn to the said place. He then proceeded to 

 say (though I did not fairly understand his meaning at the time), 

 that after the ship was built and launched the kodlunas towed 

 her round to this spot in order to have a good place for raising the 

 masts and putting them in the vessel. Kooksmith represented 

 by the handle of his whip how they raised one end of the mast 

 up on the bluff by the coast. At the time, as said above, I did 

 not fully comprehend what he wanted to say, but supposed him 

 to mean that a mast was made there, and then taken round to 

 Kodlunarn ; later, as will be seen shortly, the whole force of his 

 description came out. 



The most tiresome portion of our day's work was the ascent of 

 the Bayard Taylor Pass. Our load was not heavy, but it re- 

 quired the combined exertions of all to push and pull the sledge 

 up the abrupt mountain's side. We were all tired, the dogs 

 quite so, for they had had nothing to eat since leaving the vessel. 

 The little "camels" of the North — the Innuit dogs — are of inesti- 

 mable value in that country ; when well fed up before starting 

 on a journey, they will do hard work for many days in succession 

 without any food. 



When we reached the summit and began our descent, we found 

 still hard and also dangerous work going down with a loaded 

 sledge and a team of dogs. While Smith hung to the rope made 

 fast to the hind part of the sledge, and Kooksmith kept just ahead 

 of the dogs, whipping them back, I had hold of the fore part of 

 the sledge, to guide it and help keep it back. Notwithstanding 

 all our precautions, the sledge occasionally bounded away over 

 snow-drifts, down steep pitches, now and then plunging dogs and 

 men into one general heap. We had an exciting ride indeed go- 

 ing down on the Field Bay side, the dogs springing with all their 

 might to keep ahead of the flying sledge. We reached the ship 

 at 7 20 P.M. 



