ROBERT E. PEARY, INDOMITABLE POLAR EXPLORER 129 



bagged. With as many as they could convey of these the hunters 

 set out for the camp. Their approach was duly signalled, and upon 

 hearing that they were returning laden, Lieutenant Peary, for the 

 first time, hobbled out of the house on crutches. As they came up 

 he rested on one leg and his crutches, while he photographed them 

 and their trophies, after which the double occasion was celebrated 

 by a banquet in which venison played an important part. 



The deer skins were very important additions to the stock of 

 material from which the winter clothing was to be made, but other 

 kinds of skins were needed, especially of the marine animals, as well 

 as some native tailors to fashion them into coats, hoods, mittens, and 

 all the other articles of Arctic wear. A boat party was therefore 

 despatched along the shores of Inglefield Gulf to spy out the locali- 

 ties where walrus was to be found, and to induce some of the natives 

 of a village, seen from the "Kite," to come over to the camp and sew 

 the new garments. 



The party was successful in both instances, for a number of 

 walrus were seen and an Eskimo family came back by the boat. The 

 "huskies," as the explorers familiarly named these people, consisted 

 of a man, his wife, and two little children, and they moved to the 

 camp with all their belongings. The dress of these northern natives, 

 which the explorers found it advisable to copy in most particulars, 

 consisted of tunics and short breeches with sealskin boots reaching 

 above their knees. The costume of both sexes was very similar, the 

 only practical difference being in the tunic or jumper, that of the 

 woman having the hood longer and deeper for the accommodation 

 of her infant. They had broad, good-natured faces, not especially 

 handsome nor intelligent in appearance, and distinctly dirty. 



In fact, the use of water, other than for drinking, did not appear 

 to be known to them, and it was very much a question whether they 

 had ever tried the experiment of a wash. Mrs. Peary was once 

 tempted to give one of the little ones a bath, and she records how 

 intensely amazed it was at being put into the water, although it was 



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