230 THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE KARLUK 
though our sledge-load was getting lighter and 
lighter as the days went by. 
At noon we came to a place where there were 
two arangas. The men were all away, gathering 
driftwood. I tried to make the women understand 
that I wanted a dog. I pointed to our dogs and 
held up four fingers, then I took one of the dogs 
and held its head down as if to indicate that three 
of our dogs were practically dead. I held up one 
finger and pointed to show that I wanted one more 
dog. The women failed to understand this lucid 
pantomime, for which I could hardly blame them, 
and we proceeded on our way, hopeful that we 
could find another aranga where we could make our 
needs intelligible. 
