ALONG THE GREENLAND COAST i6i 



adult cows, one with a calf a few days old; the other 

 ready to calve in a day or two, one small cow, and two 

 yearlings, one male and one female. 



All the animals were very thin, looking almost like 

 skeletons when their skins w^ere removed, but their 

 paunches were full, and their coats in good condition, 

 not at all ragged as were those of the Independence 

 Bay musk-oxen at the same time of the year in 1892 

 and 1895. The animals were also smaller and the 

 patch on the back perceptibly whiter than the Grant 

 Land musk-oxen. 



The tent was pitched as soon as it came up, then a 

 circular wind-guard was built of snow blocks, the 

 meat and bones dragged close to it, the skins spread 

 inside, a tiny fire started with some willow twigs 

 gathered in the vicinity, and helped out by pieces of 

 a sledge, then my Eskimos sat themselves round and 

 with occasional brief winks of sleep ate continuously 

 for nearly two days and nights. I did my share too, 

 and at the end of the time the pile of cleaned bones 

 about the shelter was almost beyond belief. When 

 I use the word cleaned I use it in its fullest sense. 

 When a hungry Eskimo leaves a bone a fly could not 

 find a mouthful about it. The meat has been gnawed 

 off, the periosteum stripped off with the teeth like the 

 bark from a twig, the bone split, the marrow removed, 

 and the cavity sucked and licked till it is dry. 



Our first march from the musk-oxen carried us 

 abreast 01 Stephenson Island and was a particularly 

 dragging one. The debilitating effect of our very 

 generous diet of meat, much of which was eaten 

 raw, did not show itself so much while we were 



