308 FOUR YEARS IN THE WHITE NORTH [June 



At the head of the fiord it looks like a smother. A heavy bank of 

 fog seems to be rolling down from the ice-cap. As it reaches the 

 hills the wind tears it apart and rolls it into large cumulous clouds 

 which go flying past the house into the southwest. 



Saturday, June 2d. — Doing tidal work and trying hard to keep 

 awake, having omitted one night's sleep. Wind is subsiding and 

 head of fiord clear. Good weather promised. 



Dirty Face having pups. Thinking it was about time, I built her 

 a house yesterday. Two of the pups were apparently lifeless; I 

 thought they were dead or would soon be. To my surprise, upon 

 going into Ah-ne-nah's tupik at two o'clock, I found one suspended 

 over the stove in a handkerchief, uttering good, healthy, contented 

 grunts, the other being similarly treated in Al-nay-ah's tupik. 



Ak-pal-e-soo-ah-suk tells me that some years ago there was a 

 pup hanging above the Eskimo lamp, and it fell into the cooking- 

 pot! I presume they left it right there. 



Have developed, fixed, and filed away thirty-two negatives to- 

 day. This means considerable walking, as I carry them all out to 

 a pool in the harbor ice. At midnight I begin my hourly tidal 

 observations. 



More pups born to-day. Have now three bitches with pups — 

 sixteen in all, I think. It keeps me busy providing shelters, grass, 

 food, and water in addition to attending my own team of eight, 

 including one dog with rabies which I must chloroform at once 

 before he breaks loose and bites every dog in the village. 



Sunday y June 3d. — At 5.30 this morning Jot, Samik, and Go-dee 

 came in from the north, having secured about sixteen seals, and, 

 what was of much more interest to me, the eggs of the gyrfalcon. 

 This is our second set and an excellent addition to our collection. 



At point this side of Rensselaer Harbor they met Sipsoo and 

 In-you-gee-to, the last of Rasmussen's supporting parties, returning 

 from Fort Conger, where they had been hunting musk-oxen. Among 

 other relics, souvenirs, and things of interest, he had my record left 

 there in June, 1909/ with Ekblaw's addition left in 1915. 



Jot had a thrilling experience and possibly a narrow escape with 

 his life. When walking along the ice-foot he fell into a crack up to 

 his armpits; he held for some time, but finally dropped ten feet or 

 so into water up to his waist. There was no possible escape without 

 help, and Oo-dee had gone on. With the rising tide he would drown, 

 if he did not perish from cold long before that. To say that he 

 yelled would not half express the noise which he made. But finally 

 it was effective. Samik heard him and thought he was back in the 

 hills somewhere. When the boys finally found him they were unable 



