CLOSE QUARTERS WITH ICE 99 



entirely. A wide platform three or four feet high, 

 made of packing boxes, was placed around the wall 

 of the deck house for them to sleep on. Each family 

 had its own quarters, partitioned off by planks, and 

 screened in front by a curtain. They cooked their 

 own meat and whatever else they desired, though 

 Percy, the ship's steward, provided them with tea 

 and coffee. If they had baked beans, or hash, or 

 anything of that kind from the ship's store, it was 

 cooked for them by Percy; and he also furnished them 

 with his famous bread, which for lightness and crisp- 

 ness is unsurpassed in the round world. 



The Eskimos seemed always to be eating. There 

 was no table for the crowd of them, as they do not 

 incline to regular meal hours; but each family ate by 

 itself, as appetite dictated. I gave them pots, pans, 

 plates, cups, saucers, knives, forks, and oil stoves. 

 They had access to the ship's galley, day and night; 

 but Percy was always amiable, and the Eskimos at 

 length learned not to wash their hands in the water 

 in which he purposed to boil meat. 



The third day out the weather was villainous. 

 It rained steadily, and there was a strong southerly 

 wind. The group of dogs on the main deck stood 

 about with low, dejected heads and dripping tails. 

 Only at feeding time did they take courage even to 

 fight or snap at one another. Most of the time the 

 ship was stationary, or drifting slowly with the ice 

 toward the mouth of Dobbin Bay. When at last 

 the ice loosened, we made about ten miles in open 

 water — then the wheel rope broke, and we had to 

 stop for repairs, unable to take advantage of the 



