MYOUK AND FAMILY. 267 



a snow shelter, or in deserted hnts, and during this 

 time our thermometers were ranging from 30° to 40° 

 below zero ; and when they came on board out of 

 this temperature it never seemed to occur to them to 

 warm themselves, but they first wandered all over the 

 ship, satisfying their curiosity. 



A few hours afterward there arrived a family of 

 quite another descrijotion, — Myouk and his wife of 

 the ragged coat. They had walked all the way up 

 from Iteplik, the w^oman carrying her baby on her 

 back all of these hundred and fifty miles. Myouk 

 was evidently at a loss to find an excuse for paying 

 me this visit ; but he put a bold front on, and, like 

 Kalutunah, discovered a reason. " I come to show 

 the Nalegaksoak my wife and Daktagee," pointing to 

 the dowdy, dirty creature that owned him for a hus- 

 band, and the forlorn being that owned him for a 

 father. But when he perceived that I was not likely 

 to pay much for the sight, he timidly remarked, wdth 

 another significant point, " She made me come," and 

 then started off. doubtless to see what he could steal. 



My arrangements were soon concluded with Kalu- 

 tunah. He was to live over in the hut at Etah, to do 

 such hunting as he could without the aid of his dogs, 

 all of which he loaned to me ; but, in any event, my 

 stores were to be his reliance, and I bound myself to 

 supply him with all that he required for the support 

 of himself and his family. 



On the following day the hut at Etah was cleared 

 out and put in order, and this interesting family took 

 up their abode there, while Myouk, as eager to place 

 himself under the protection of a man high in favor 

 as if his skin had been white and he knew the mean- 

 ing of " public office " and lived nearer the equator, 



