Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/316

Rh rugged ice lining the shore; and one young urchin with a brace of ducks newly shot. In the narrow distance were some icebergs and floating masses of ice, and behind, as well as far off, the bold mountains, which gave a grandeur to the view. The next morning, April 29th, accompanied by Esheeloo and his wife Oonga, I started on foot for the ship in Rescue Harbour, a distance of about twenty miles.

Part of the way was over broken ice, and this made the journey both tedious and difficult. At noon we were at the foot of Bayard Taylor Pass leading to Field Bay, and after a lunch we walked on over the land, stopping a moment at the half-way station for a drink of delicious water, and arrived on the other side at 4 Field Bay had firm ice upon it, and over this we travelled as rapidly as we could, finally reaching the ship at 8 having been just twelve hours on the way.



The illustration one-third the size of the original.

In the hands of an Esquimaux woman, this simple instrument, made of bone and iron (the arc simply edged with iron), is equivalent to the knife, hatchet, scraper, and shears of civilization.