CHAPTER IV.

IN THE SLEDGES.


It was eleven o'clock on the morning of the 1st of April when the three
heavily laden sledges moved out from Camp Daly on to the shore ice of
Hudson's Bay, and commenced the long march toward King William Land.
Lieutenant Schwatka's preliminary sledge journey in the direction of
Wager River, during midwinter, had determined him upon taking that
route, though across land entirely unknown either to previous explorers
or to any natives with whom we had come in contact. Whether we would
find practicable watercourses, such as rivers and lakes, or whether
mountain ranges would oppose their granite walls to farther progress,
was yet to be ascertained. Its recommendation was that it was the most
direct course, and whatever obstacles it might present would, when
overcome, always leave us that much nearer our goal. As we reached the
smooth salt-water ice, we turned to take a last look at Camp Daly,
which had been so long our home--a comfortless dwelling-place indeed,
but for all that a home--and I never expect to lose a feeling of
affection for its barren rocks and forbidding scenery. Its snow-clad
hills were almost hidden behind the hummocks that everywhere bound the
shore and make it a difficult undertaking to get on or off the ice at
low tide. The loaded sledges were making but slow progress as they
wound through the rough ice, but greatly enlivened the landscape, which
at other times is dreary and monotonous in the extreme. The drivers, by
voice and whip, were urging on their teams; while the dogs made the
wilderness ring with howls of pain or impatience. The men were bending
their shoulders to the task, as the women and children walked ahead and