POINT SECURITY. 
201 
his powder, the reflection came over me:—“ Good God! 
what will become of us if all this is destroyed?” 
Only by men experienced in the rapid changes of 
Arctic ice can the full force of this reflection be appre¬ 
ciated. A single gale might convert the precarious 
platform, over which we were travelling, into a tumult¬ 
uous ice-pack. Had the boats their stores on board 
even, and could they break through without foundering, 
there was not the remotest prospect of their being 
liberated in open water; and I knew well what obstacles 
a wet, sludgy surface would present to our overtasked 
and almost worn-out party. 
I determined, therefore, as soon as I could secure the 
meat, which was my immediate errand, to make a re¬ 
quisition upon the Esquimaux for two of the four dogs 
which were still at Etah, and by their aid to place the 
provisions in safety. The north cape of Littleton 
Island, afterward called Point Security, was selected 
for the purpose, and I left orders with the invalids at 
the sick-station to be in readiness for instant removal. 
I pursued my journey alone. 
It was quite late in the evening when I drew near 
Etah. I mean that it was verging on to our midnight, 
the sun being low in the heavens, and the air breath¬ 
ing that solemn stillness which belongs to the sleeping¬ 
time of birds and plants. I had not quite reached the 
little settlement when loud sounds of laughter came to 
my ear; and, turning the cape, I burst suddenly upon 
an encampment of the inhabitants. 
Some thirty men, women, and children, were gathered 
