Northward over the great ice : a narrative of life and work along the shores and upon the interior ice-cap of northern Greenland in the years 1886 and 1891-1897, with a description of the little tribe of Smith Sound Eskimos, the most northerly human beings in the world, and an account of the discovery and bringing home of the Saviksue or great Cape York meteorites . MOONLIGHT ON THE ICE-CAP. I was studying how we should extricate ourselvesfrom our predicament if the storm continued forseveral days. My greatest source of anxiety was thefact that the suddenness with which we were compelledto fre
Northward over the great ice : a narrative of life and work along the shores and upon the interior ice-cap of northern Greenland in the years 1886 and 1891-1897, with a description of the little tribe of Smith Sound Eskimos, the most northerly human beings in the world, and an account of the discovery and bringing home of the Saviksue or great Cape York meteorites . MOONLIGHT ON THE ICE-CAP. I was studying how we should extricate ourselvesfrom our predicament if the storm continued forseveral days. My greatest source of anxiety was thefact that the suddenness with which we were compelledto free ourselves from the drift had left our outerclothing and foot-gear deep under the drift, my dog-skin trousers being the only thing that was broughtout. These, however, and the shovel, I had close tome. I knew that we were good for at least twenty-four hours longer in the bags, but if the storm con- 2o6 Northward over the Great Ice tinned longer than that, I should have to try and digout a kooletah and pair of kamiks, and get to thehouse for clothing. Dozing again, I suddenly awoke to hear a rattlingas of hail against my hood, and putting my hand outthrough the sleeve of the bag, great drops of raindrove against it, freezing as they struck. Moving inmy bag, I felt that it had stiffened greatly, but fortun-. SUNRISE ON THE GREAT , i8g2. ately was not yet frozen down. Calling to the boys,I told them to roll their bags gently from side to sideevery few minutes to prevent their freezing down, andthen anxiously waited developments. The continua-tion of the rain would, I knew, make the digging outof our clothing impossible, and if I had to go down tothe house, I should have to wear the upper part ofmy bag cut off for a kooletah, my dogskin trousers,and a pair of reindeer-skin sleeping-socks which I Imprisoned on the Ice-Cap 20^ had in my bag cover. I was worse off than either of theothers, for they had on complete suits of underwear,including stockings, while I wore only
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecteskimos, bookyear1898
