dangerous and I wanted to test it with my axe till I found a safe place to take the dogs over. Jewett, intimated that a little thing like that wouldn’t stop him, started across and nearly lost his life when their snow bridge broke away with him. If he had gone through, we would have had five feet of ice to chop through before we could reach him and then it would be practically impossible to locate him under the ice. Across the North Arm, from Mattonnabbee Point to Gypsum Point is about 20 miles.
From the latter point we were to follow the West side of the Arm to Fort Rae, but very soon the ice got bad and it became necessary for each man to carry a long pole to hold him up if the ice gave way.
A long rope, attached to the head of the sleigh and
