Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/321

 construct a snow-hut to shelter my unlucky driver from the cold wind which was beginning to blow. Besides, our buffalo-skins were as wet as they could be, and we should have precious little comfort on our journey if we did not return and exchange them for dry ones. The dogs, too, ran great risk of injury by being allowed to rest in their wet coats in so low a temperature. The whip was not spared, and the vessel was reached without serious consequences either to Jensen or the team. An hour or so sufficed for us to refit, when we started again; and being this time more cautious, we got around the point without further trouble.

The ice was found to be smooth and the traveling good as we moved up the coast; and, not being very heavily laden, we got on at a good pace. The snow had been packed very hard by the winds, and wherever there had been hummocks it had collected between them, so that, although the surface was somewhat rolling and uneven, yet it was as firm as a country road. Darkness coming on, (we had not yet reached the constant sunlight of summer,) we hauled in under Cape Hatherton and made our first camp.

It was a real Arctic camp;—picketing the dogs and burrowing in a snow-bank are very simple operations, and require but little time. Jensen made the burrow, and Kalutunah looked after the animals; and when all was ready we crawled in and tried our best to be comfortable and to sleep; but the recollection of the ship's bunk was too recent to render either practicable, except to Kalutunah, who did not seem to mind any thing, and snored all through the night in a most awful manner. The outside temperature was 40° below zero.