Our driver had been refreshing himself with seal and blubber, and Mr. Peary now called to him to untangle the dogs, as we wished to continue our journey. This he did not like, and said the people were all gone, and there was no use in going any farther up the gulf. The snow, he said, was very deep, and the dogs would not be able to pull the load; but Mr. Peary was firm in his decision to push on to the head of the gulf, if possible, in order to complete his surveys. Accordingly, at four A. M. we started again, and to our surprise Kudlah and Tawanah accompanied us. When questioned as to their destination, Tawanah said they had a lot of sealskins and young seals at Nanatochsuahmy which he wanted to give Mr. Peary, and they were going as far as his igloo with us.
In about three hours we came to a small island, and here we pitched camp. After a hearty supper of Boston baked beans, corned beef, and stewed tomatoes, with tea and crackers, we turned in, and what a delightful sleep we had! The sun shone warm, and that peculiar stillness which is found only in the Arctic regions was conducive to long sleep.
Mount Daly.
After supper we explored the little island and found the plateau covered with the tracks of deer and ptarmigan, but we could descry no living creature. The view from the summit was very fine. We could see down the sound as far as Herbert Island, and almost up to the head of Inglefield Gulf; on the right the eye took in the greater part of Academy Bay, and on the left in the distance towered Mts. Putnam, Daly, and Adams.
Arriving at Nunatochsoah, we spent about an hour in skirmishing about the place, Tawanah taking us to various caches containing sealskins, both tanned and untanned, and two caches containing young seals, about twenty-two in all. Kudlah, too, had a few seals and skins, and both men were anxious to barter their possessions with Mr. Peary for a knife and a saw.
CHAPTER XII
THE SLEDGE JOURNEY—(Continued)
From Tawanah’s Igloo to the Great Heilprin Glacier—The Little Matterhorn—A Wet Night—Ptarmigan Island—“As the Crow flies” for the Eastern Bastion of Herbert Island—A Nap in the Sunshine—Back at Redcliffe—A Busy Week of Preparation for the Start on the Inland Ice—Canine Rivals.
We unloaded our sledge, and, with Kudlah as our driver, continued the exploration of Inglefield Gulf to its head. In spite of Kudlah’s having spent the entire time at Tawanah’s in eating seal, we had scarcely traveled a mile before he said he was hungry for American kapah. When told it was not yet time, he turned his attention to the dogs again, but soon we saw that the dogs were having a go-as-you-please time, and on looking to the driver for the reason we found him sitting bolt-upright and fast asleep. We woke him, and to keep him awake I gave him some crackers to eat. They had the desired effect as long as they lasted, but as soon as they had disappeared off he went to sleep again, and I came to the conclusion that they acted more as a narcotic than a stimulant, and discontinued them.
Just before reaching the head of this great gulf we came to a nunatak in one of the numerous glaciers, shaped like the Swiss Matterhorn, and we named it the Little Matterhorn. We were in an Alpine landscape, but the more striking features of the European ice-covered mountains were here brought out in increased intensity. Arrived at the head of the gulf, we were confronted by one of the grandest glaciers that we had yet seen.