Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/39

20 Innuits can—sleep away as undisturbed by the storm as if in his tent. Here a great danger threatened us. This gale might break up the ice; and if so, and we were encamped on an island, escape would be impossible, for we had no boat. The wind was so furious that we could hardly stand erect, and already it was tearing up the ice in all directions about the main bay. It was an awkward position, and one that I had anticipated. But it was necessary immediately to prepare some shelter, and accordingly we selected a spot on a point of low land, north of and near Dillon Mountain, where Innuits evidently had erected their tupics very many years before. Bones of seal and walrus, fragments of wood, and circles of stones, showed the dwelling-places of Esquimaux who had lived there before the land became abhorred. The erection of our tent was a matter of great difficulty. One of us had to stand up before the blast to break its force, another to erect the tupic, and the third to try to make it stand. Placing the covering over the tent-poles was a toil especially arduous. The wind seemed to press with a force of tons. Flap, flap went the canvas, beating us about, and giving us such bruises that several times I thought it impossible to get through with the task. But at length it was accomplished. All the crevices were filled with moss, so as to render the admission of fine snow nearly impossible; and thus, in the teeth of a remarkably heavy gale, we finally succeeded in getting as much shelter as could be expected under such circumstances. The next day, June 13th, the gale continued with unabated fury to 11 Most of the time during this storm we had to keep inside the tent; and whenever we did venture out, it was necessary to use great care, lest the force of the wind should throw us down. That the tent stood was a marvel. But stand it did, and gave us shelter until Friday the 14th, about 12 meridian, when we resumed our homeward route. Our journey was comparatively rapid. We arrived at Sylvia Island at 10 without any obstacle save in rounding Cape Daly, though the seaward ice was anything but