46 THENORTHPOLE 



It may perhaps be fairly said that it has been my 

 fortune to utilize the Eskimos for the purpose of dis- 

 covery to a degree equaled by no other explorer, and 

 for that reason it may not seem amiss to suspend the 

 general narrative long enough to give a little information 

 regarding their characteristics, the more so as without 

 some knowledge of these peculiar people it would be im- 

 possible for any one really to understand the workings 

 of my expedition to the North Pole. It has been a 

 fundamental principle of all my arctic work to utilize 

 the Eskimos for the rank and file of my sledge parties. 

 Without the skilful handiwork of the women we should 

 lack the warm fur clothing which is absolutely essential 

 to protect us from the winter cold, while the Eskimo 

 dog is the only tractive force suitable for serious arctic 

 sledge work. 



The members of this little tribe or family, inhabit- 

 ing the western coast of Greenland from Cape York to 

 Etah,are in many ways quite different from the Eskimos 

 of Danish Greenland, or those of any other arctic 

 territory. There are now between two hundred and 

 twenty and two hundred and thirty in the tribe. They 

 are savages, but they are not savage; they are without 

 government, but they are not lawless; they are utterly 

 uneducated according to our standard, yet they exhibit 

 a remarkable degree of intelligence. In temperament 

 like children, with all a child's delight in little things, 

 they are nevertheless enduring as the most mature of 

 civilized men and women, and the best of them are 

 faithful unto death. Without religion and having no 

 idea of God, they will share their last meal with any one 

 who is hungry, while the aged and the helpless among 



