The aspect was
dreary in the extreme, and he returned to spend the day dozing in his
sleeping bag.
For two days they were held prisoners by the storm, and when finally
the third morning dawned clear and cold, a deep covering of soft snow
had spoiled the good going and they found travelling much slower and
more difficult than the day they started.
Akonuk and Bob ran ahead on their snow-shoes to break the way for the
dogs, which Matuk drove, and found it necessary to constantly urge the
animals on with shouts of "Oo-isht! Oo-isht! Ok-suit! Ok-suit!" and
sometimes with stinging cuts of his long whip. This whip was made of
braided strands of walrus hide, and tapered from a thickness of two
inches at the butt to one long single strand at the tip. Its handle
was a piece of wood about a foot long and the whole whip was perhaps
thirty-five feet in length. When not in use a loop on the handle was
dropped over the end of one of the forward crosspieces of the komatik,
and its lash trailed behind in the snow. Here it could be readily
reached and brought into instant service. Matuk was an expert in the
manipulation of this cruel instrument, and the dogs were in deadly
fear of it. When he cracked it over their heads they would plunge
madly forward and whine piteously for mercy.
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