1915] WAITING FOR THE SHIP 173 



gotten her great love for raw meat, which once the bear 

 so faithfully brought to her on his return from his 

 daily hunt, and so the passing hunters often apply 

 to the mouth of the disconsolate mother bits of fat 

 for her sustenance. Grease spots can plainly be seen 

 about her face and on her breast. This locality I regard 

 as one of the most interesting places ethnologically in 

 the far North; with its many old igloos it bears every 

 evidence of having been inhabited for centuries by a 

 very old people. Upon the ground and about the 

 igloos is a heterogeneous assortment of old harpoons, 

 killing-irons, and much household and hunting equip- 

 ment. 



But there was much to be done at Etah. Hundreds 

 of boxes were to be packed in preparation for the coming 

 of the ship; thousands of pounds of meat — walrus, nar- 

 whal, and seal — must be secured for the coming winter. 

 These two problems confronted us for three years — 

 preparations for going home and the uncertainty of 

 going, thus necessitating the obtaining of supplies for 

 the coming winter. Boxes were packed for transpor- 

 tation, and at the same time eggs were cached, food was 

 conserved, the hunt carried on, and much put away 

 for the dark winter months. 



When in camp on Sunrise Point, on the last day of 

 July, with one Eskimo, two women with nursing babies, 

 and one little girl, Ak-pood-a-shah-o harpooned a big 

 bull walrus. We yelled for the women to pull out the 

 sailing-dory. How they managed to drag this twenty- 

 one-foot boat for some forty feet, ship the unwieldy 

 rudder, and row off to us, a mile away, I do not know. 

 They were anxious to be in at the killing, and they got 

 all they wanted. 



