FURTHER EXPERIENCES OF DR. HAYES 395 



the estimation of our Eskimos. These native friends were getting to be very- 

 Jews in their bargainings. Heaven knows we did not grudge the poor crea- 

 tures the few paltry things of which they stand so much in need; but, with 

 us, the case was one of Hfe and death ; and, by keeping up the price, we pre- 

 vented the market from being overstocked. A needle was worth to them 

 more than a hundred times its weight in gold. Ours had become quite 

 notorious, and by this time every women in the tribe had at least one of 

 them. Some of the women had nearly a dozen apiece. They were a won- 

 derful improvement over the coarse bone instruments which they had hith- 

 erto used. 



"Mr. Sonntag and John had a hard journey. The track was rough. High 

 ridges of hummocked ice lay across the mouth of Wolstenholme Sound, and 

 through these they were compelled to pick a tortuous passage. On their way 

 down they were" obliged to walk a large portion of the time, because partly 

 of the roughness of the road, and partly of the fact that there four persons 

 to one sledge. They were quartered in a double hut, one in each division of 

 it, and were treated with great kindness and civility. They returned to us 

 looking hale and hearty, and made our mouths fairly water with glowing de- 

 scriptions of unstinted feasts. They had been living on the fat of the land, — 

 upon bear, fox, and puppy, the best dishes in the Eskimo larder at this time 

 of year. Yet food was scarce at Akbat, and hence they brought little." 



Later Petersen and his white companion, one Godfrey, returned unex- 

 pectedly. Petersen crawled into the hut almost exhausted, and Godfrey after 

 him. 



"Their first utterance was a cry for 'water! — water!' 

 "I asked Petersen, 'Are you frozen?' — 'No!' — 'Godfrey are you?' — 

 'No! but dreadful cold, and almost dead.' Poor fellow! he looked so. 



"They were in no condition to answer questions; but they rather needed 

 our immediate good offices. Their clothing was stiff, and in front was 

 coated with ice. From their beards hung great lumps of it; and their hair, 

 eyebrows, and eyelashes were white with the condensed moisture of their 

 breath. We aided them in stripping off their frozen garments; and then 

 rolled them up in their blankets. 



"Long exposure to the intense cold, fatigue, and hunger, had benumbed 

 their sensibilities; and with the reaction which followed came a correspond- 

 ing excitement. We gave them to drink of our hot coffee, and this combined 

 with the warmth of the hut soon revived them ; but the violence of the change 



