2S THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 
Eskimo means that his family also must be fed and carried along with the 
expedition. Captain Roald Amundsen is of the opinion that outside of 
the scientific staff of an expedition Eskimos should best be depended on for 
all work, his chief reason being not the greater resistance of the Eskimo 
physically to northern hardships, although that is true also, but that the 
Eskimo does not get homesick and is not continually down-hearted. The 
Yskimo’s disposition is such that whether he be cold, hungry or in danger 
he seldom becomes dispirited or sulky. Commander Peary has always 
spoken in favor of Eskimo assistants and has always shown his personal 
preference in being accompanied by them on his dashes for the Pole. Mr. 
Stefansson who had previously spent a year with the uncivilized Eskimo 
agreed with this opinion in favor of the Eskimo and the Museum’s Arctic 
Expedition was planned accordingly. He reports, however, a wonderful 
change in the Eskimos as regards pay for services since he was at the Mac- 
kenzie delta in 1906. “‘ Then they knew little about money and one could 
hardly pay for anything. He might make gifts, but pay was never asked 
and if offered needed explaining by the statement that white men always pay 
for food and work in their own country. So great is the change that now 
an Eskimo seldom remains permanently satisfied with the most liberal pay 
for services.” 
While the reunited divisions of the expedition worked getting a store of 
blubber, the leaders reviewed the past and carefully studied the future. 
One thing was certain, they must have the traps and ammunition that had 
been left perforce in the old house beside the wrecked “ Alexander.” Black 
and silver fox had recently been seen, black fox with a value from six 
hundred to a thousand dollars per skin. Besides there could be no more 
opportune time to get the things necessary for the Coppermine trip which 
would begin in the spring as soon as the sun came back. It was, therefore, 
decided that Dr. Anderson with two Eskimos and ten dogs should go at 
once to the “Alexander.” The day they separated was one of the worst 
of the year,— 35° with a southwest blizzard. Going east with the storm, 
Dr. Anderson could proceed; going toward the west and so in the face 
of the gale, Mr. Stefansson’s dogs refused to work, and waiting was 
necessary till the storm abated. At last they started, six people with two 
days’ provisions, and after fifteen days of struggle they got back to the log 
house where they had left the Eskimo woman in charge of the cache. _Noth- 
ing could be more graphic than Mr. Stefansson’s description of these fifteen 
days: 
On the whole trip we killed five ptarmigan and not a single rabbit, though one 
of us hunted each bank all the way up. The sun was gone and so the daylight was 
meagre, besides it blew a blizzard every day. The whale tongue was very bad eating, 
