Though not quite so
large as the statue on the dome of the Capitol at Washington, she was
immense, and had arms like a gymnast. Modesty, either natural or
assumed, and fear of the strange white men made her keep on the
opposite side of the sled from us, though, as Lieutenant Schwatka
remarked, she could have handled both of us if she wanted to.
We marched in a south-east direction in the inlet five days, during
which we travelled upon it about forty-five miles, and when we left it
could still see it running in a southerly direction for about ten or
fifteen miles farther. It is bottle-shaped, not more than a mile wide
at its mouth, and for a considerable distance, when it gradually widens
out to five or six miles, and is about twenty miles wide at its head.
Nearly every night we were able to find water in some lake on the land,
but had to carry it from two to four miles into camp. This duty
Lieutenant Schwatka and I took upon ourselves, while the Inuits were
building and preparing the igloo.
The sun was so low now that we had either sunrise or sunset during the
whole time it was above the horizon. At noon it was not more than four
degrees high. We were gradually moving southward, or we would have been
left with nothing but this light during the daytime. In fact, several
days before we left Back's River, the sun only showed his diameter
above the hills along the shore, where it lazily rolled for a few
minutes and left us the long twilight in which to build our igloos,
which were scarely ever finished before the utter darkness came upon
us.
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