BEARING BURDENS 277 



of difficult positions for the sake of supplying the 

 wants of themselves and their families. 



One account is given of a party of Eskimos who 

 arrived at Blacklead Island in a most famished 

 condition. Their sufferings had been very great. 

 They had travelled inland, before winter had set 

 in, for nearly a month and succeeded in reaching a 

 lake called Augmakruk. Here they found a con- 

 siderable number of reindeer. After a time they 

 retraced their steps to a place some little distance 

 from the coast where they had left their boat. 

 On the return journey they saw no reindeer, and 

 only succeeded in keeping themselves alive by the 

 greatest economy in using the limited supply of 

 deer's meat they had on hand. On reaching the 

 coast they found the ice had formed there, but 

 it was not strong enough to bear the weight of 

 the boat, so that they were unable to convey it at 

 once to the open sea. It took them ten days to 

 overcome the innumerable difficulties and launch 

 their boat. During this time they were compelled 

 to eat their dogs. At last, in a sorry plight, they 

 managed to reach Blacklead Island. 



At another time Mr. Peck records, " I saw two 

 men on a piece of ice which they used as a kind of 

 boat, and on which they made their way to a large 

 body of ice near the island. It is by no means 

 unusual for them in the event of a seal being shot 

 in the open water to break off with their harpoons 



