PARTIES TURN BACK 
guided the sledges. On several occasions the 
dogs gave it up, standing still in their tracks, 
and we had to hold the sledges with the 
strength of our hones and muscles to prevent 
them from sliding backwards. When we had 
regained our equilibrium the dogs were again 
started, and in this way we gained the tops of 
the pressure-ridges. 
Going down on the opposite side was more 
nerve-racking. On the descent of one ridge, 
in spite of the experienced care of Ootah, the 
sledge bounded away from him, and at a de- 
clivity of thirty feet was completely wrecked. 
The frightened dogs dashed wildly in every 
direction to escape the falling sledge, and as 
quickly as possible we slid down the steep in- 
cline, at the same time guiding the dogs at- 
tached to the two remaining sledges. We 
rushed over, my two boys and I, to the spot 
where the poor dogs stood trembling with 
fright. We released them from the tangle 
they were in, and, with kind words and pats of 
the hand on their heads, quieted them. For 
over an hour we struggled with the broken 
pieces of the wreck and finally lashed them to- 
gether with strips of oog-sook (seal-hide). 
105 
