CHAPTER V 



WELCOME FROM THE ESKIMOS 



AS we approached Cape York, which is farther 

 from the Pole in actual distance than New 

 York is from Tampa, Florida, it was with a 

 peculiar feeling of satisfaction that I saw the foremost 

 of our Eskimo friends putting out to meet us in their 

 tiny kayaks, or skin canoes. Here is the southernmost 

 of the Eskimo villages, by which a permanent settle- 

 ment is not meant, for these barbarians are nomads. 

 One year there may be two families there; another 

 year ten; and still another season none at all, for the 

 Eskimos seldom live more than a year or two in one 

 place. 



As we neared the Cape, the headland was encircled 

 and guarded by an enormous squadron of floating ice- 

 bergs which made it difficult for the Roosevelt to get 

 near shore; but long before we reached these bergs 

 the hunters of the settlement were seen putting out to 

 greet us. The sight of them skimming the water so 

 easily in their frail kayaks was the most welcome 

 spectacle I had seen since we sailed from Sydney. 



It seems fitting to give a good deal of attention at 

 this point to the consideration of this interesting little 

 race, the most northerly people in all the world, for 

 their help is one of the elements without which it is 

 possible that the North Pole might never have been 



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