IN SIGHT OF LAND 
203 
them across. Before long the lead had opened to a 
considerable width. We were now on the land ice, 
free from open water, and had only rafters, rough 
ice and deep snow to contend with. I sent Katak- 
tovick on towards the land to see how the going 
was and I started in to make a road with the pick¬ 
axe, while the dogs rested by the sledge. In about 
an hour he came back and said that after he 
had got through the rough ice he had found the 
going good. We both worked on the road with 
our pickaxes and in the afternoon got about through 
the rough ice to smoother going beyond. I went 
back and brought up the dogs and the sledge and 
by the time I reached Kataktovick he was through 
the rough ice. It was a fine, clear day, without any 
wind; the temperature, I should judge, was about 
fifty below zero. 
The good going did not last long for we soon 
came to rough ice, with deep, soft snow. Here we 
had to wear our snowshoes again. For a good part 
of the way across from Wrangell Island we had not 
been able to use them because the ice was too rough 
and jagged and, furthermore, we had had so much 
jumping to do, getting across the leads, that we 
could not spare the time necessary to put the snow- 
shoes on and off, or run the risk of breaking them. 
Our footgear was wet, too, and the ugsug rawhide 
straps across the toes sank in so far that there was 
