s
flesh and blubber for himself and the dogs, and a dish for our lamp. He
was armed with a bow and arrows, a spear, and a knife.

I had become possessed of a dog of the name of Tupua, a very fine
animal, who had grown very much attached to me, in consequence of my
feeding him regularly and treating him kindly. He now followed the
sledge with the rest of the pack. Ickmallick cracked his whip, and off
we went over the hard frozen snow at a rapid rate. Where we were going
to I could not tell, except that our course was about west and
south-west.

The first day we saw no game of any description. We travelled, I
suppose, about thirty miles; for though sometimes we went along over the
hard snow very fast, at others we had to go over very rough ground, and
to climb hills. Had I not seen the snow-hut built before, I should have
hesitated about accompanying my friend, on account of not knowing how we
were to pass the nights. I was, however, not surprised to see him set
to work behind a sheltered bank, and in the course of half-an-hour, with
my assistance, run up as comfortable a hut as under the circumstances of
the case we could desire, with a lamp burning within, and a luxurious
bed ready, while another hut, close to it, was run up for the dogs. The
dogs being fed, and our pot having produced us a savoury mess, of which
my companion ate by far the larger portion, we went to bed and slept
soundly till the morning.

We had started about two hours when the sharp eyes of my friend
discovered the traces of two musk-oxen on the steep side of a hill.
Immediately jumping off the sledge, he unyoked the dogs, and commenced
building a hut over it, which might also serve us at night. He then let
slip his dogs, who went off at full speed and were soon out of sight, as
the nature of the ground did not allow a very extensive view. I let go
mine also. But being unaccustomed to walking in the snow, I could not
keep up with Ickmallick; so he slackened his pace, refusing to leave me
behind, though I urged him to do so, lest we should lose our expected
prey. He assured me, however, that the dogs would take very good care
of their own business. We went on, therefore, laboriously enough for
two hours, over a very rugged country, and through deep snow, when,
finding that the footsteps of the dogs no longer followed that of the
oxen, he concluded that they had got up with the animals, and were
probably holding one or both at bay.

W