162 



THE AMKlllLA^ ML\<EL'M JOinXAL 



Hunger, suffering, and privations of 

 the past winter are forgotten, as trying 

 fineers work the sealskin thonii:s into 

 nets and old harpoon handles into 

 poles. '' Arh- pood-e-arh-suit ! Ark-pood- 

 e-ark-suit!" (Little auks ! little auks !) 

 is heard from tupik to tupik. Pets, 

 pups, and cripples among the dogs (the 

 good dogs are away with their masters) 

 strain at their traces in an endeavor to 

 haul a sledfje load of shouting women 

 and laiighing children to the bird cliffs 

 a mile away. Here are the birds in 

 countless numl)ers. The talus slope is 

 literally covered, and the air is filled, 

 the birds reseml)ling at a distance noth- 

 ing so much as a gigantic swarm of 

 mosquitoes. 



The women take their positions in 

 holes among the rocks which have been 

 used for centuries. As flock after flock 

 wheels past within reach, the long dip 



net sweeps across the path, catching 

 from one to ten birds at a sweep. ^lany 

 of these birds are eaten raw upon the 

 spot, some are cached under the rocks 

 for the following winter, others are 

 placed in sealskin bags and taken to the 

 tents to be boiled, each person eating 

 about eight birds. The skins are sucked 

 thoroughly to remove the fat, then 

 dried, and used in the manufact\ire of 

 birdskin shirts. 



The ('gg< of this bird and those of the 

 eider duck are delicacies with these 

 northern people. I have often been one 

 in a party that gathered six thoitsand 

 eggs in a few hours. Strange to say, 

 these eggs i-emain fresh for a year if 

 left under the rocks out of the direct 

 rays of the sun. Chilled during the 

 summer, they are frozen hard in Sep- 

 tember and during the following 

 months. The Eskimos eat manv of 



This is Borup Lodge, headquarters of the Crocker Land Expedition at Etah. North CTreenland, as 

 seen in early spring from the hill above. The house is one of the warmest buildings ever constructed in 

 the Xorth, the walls being double with a four-inch air space. It contains a large living room, four 

 sleeping rooms, a work room, an electrical room, and a photographic dark room 



