ESKIMO PATIENCE. ^3 



plate he was using for a chisel an old 

 file, found on one of the ships, which it 

 had taken him two or three years to 

 sharpen by rubbing its edge against 

 stones and rocks. His cold-chisel fin- 

 ished, he had been nearly as many years 

 cutting a straight edge along the ragged 

 sides of the irregular piece of iron, and 

 when I discovered him he had outlined 

 the width of his knife on the plate and 

 was cutting away at it. It would proba- 

 bly have taken him two years to cut out 

 this piece, and two more to fashion the 

 knife into shape and usefulness. 



The file which he had made into a 

 cold-chisel was such a proof of labor and 

 patience that it was a great curiosity to 

 me, and I gave him a butcher's knife in 

 exchange for it. Thus almost the very 

 thing he had been so long trying to 



