136 PEARY'S FIRST VOYAGES 



"Their belongings were extremely simple. A kayak, a sledge, one or two 

 dogs, a tent made of walrus hide or sealskin, some weapons, and a stone lamp, 

 comprised, with the clothes they wore, their property. Wood was the most 

 valuable article they knew, because they could use it for so many purposes, and 

 had so little of it. The possession of knives and needles was greatly desired, 

 but scissors did not appeal to them, since what they could not cut with a knife 

 they could bite with their close even teeth. Money had neither a suggestion 

 nor a use with them ; trade, if carried out at all, being merely the bartering of 

 one article for another. 



"The animals they liked best were dogs and seals; the former being their 

 beast of burden and constant companion, the latter the provider of food, 

 raiment, covering and light. Every seal killed belonged to the man who 

 killed it, but the rules of the tribe required that all larger animals should be 

 shared among the members in the neighborhood ; the skin of a bear, however, 

 remaining in the possession of the man who secured it. But so unsophisticated 

 and easy-going are the contented little people that individual property scarcely 

 exists with them; every one is ready and willing to share what he has with 

 another if need be. The articles borrowed, however, are always returned, or 

 made good if broken or lost. No one can either read or write; the boys are 

 taught how to hunt, how to manage the kayak and sledge, and how to make 

 and use the weapons of the chase, while the girls are taught how to sew the 

 fur garments, and keep the stone lamp burning with blubber and moss, so 

 as to prepare the drinking water and the frizzled seal flesh they eat. For 

 the rest, their chief desire is to live as happily as they can, and this, according 

 to those who have been amongst them, they manage to do merrily and well. 



"During the visits paid to the different encampments by Lieutenant Peary 

 arid his wife, about a score of dogs were obtained, a number which would be 

 sufficient to carry out the work of the ensuing spring. They were usually 

 obtained in exchange for needles and knives, but the purpose for which they 

 were needed always formed a subject of wonder to the unambitious 'huskies.' " 



The winter in Greenland passed without extraordinary incident. By the 

 middle of April preparations were made for pushing on to a point where 

 further knowledge could be gleaned. It was Lieutenant Peary's plan to 

 journey with one sledge — which was followed by a supporting party — into 

 the unknown interior of Greenland, and over a great ice-cap that makes the 

 center of the country a huge mountain. The start was made April 30. Each 

 sledge had a team of ten dogs and was laden with food and scientific instru- 



