94 THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 



anxious to do as much work and to have as much to show for his 

 time as possible. 



Before my arrival the point of view had been that they could 

 use for scientific and exploratory work only the resources which 

 they actually had in their own personnel and in the dogs and sup- 

 plies brought from Nome. My view was, on the contrary, that 

 when the Government had an expensive expedition in the field with 

 a large staff of scientific men it would be folly to hamper any of the 

 staff by confining their operations to what could be done with two 

 or three dog teams and limited supplies, when good dogs could be 

 purchased at a reasonable price locally and natives and whites 

 engaged to assist in the carrying out of a more extensive work. 

 Groceries and other supplies were available for this larger program, 

 both from the whalers and traders along the coast just east of us 

 and from the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Macpherson. 

 I felt confident, too, that the Royal Northwest Mounted Police 

 would assist us with whatever resources they might happen to have 

 either at Herschel Island or Fort Macpherson. 



A few minutes after I arrived at Collinson Point Andrew Norem, 

 the steward of the Mary Sachs, asked me for a confidential inter- 

 view at the earliest possible moment. The Collinson Point party, 

 apart from those who, like Thomsen, had trapping camps scattered 

 about, were all living in a large log cabin originally built by "Duffy" 

 O'Connor when he had his trading station there the year 1911-12, 

 a cabin purchased by us and fitted up, with the kitchen in an alcove 

 and a storehouse adjoining. With ten or fifteen men around in the 

 evening when there was no outdoor work to do, it was not possible 

 to talk privately, and I had to put Norem's request off until next day. 



What he had to tell me then was that he thought he was going 

 insane. He said that during his lifetime he had seen various men 

 become insane and that his own symptoms were like some of theirs. 

 In particular, he had occasional fits of despondency. At these times 

 he not only felt that every one was displeased with him but even had 

 the idea that they were persecuting him in a most malicious way. 

 If he lit his pipe he imagined that the tobacco had been adulterated 

 with some evil-tasting and evil-smelling mixture. This usually made 

 him angry, although he sometimes had enough sense to realize that 

 he was probably imagining things. On several occasions he had 

 induced one or more of the men to take a puff or two out of his 

 pipe and they had always said that the tobacco was all right. When 

 the fits of depression were on he took this verdict as a sign of con- 

 spiracy against him; but in his lucid intervals he realized that the 



