328 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



was almost dead ahead. What sagacious creatures 

 they are ! Ilak trusted them fully. He knew that 

 could he only keep them in the right direction their 

 keen sense of smell and evident instinct would do 

 the rest. And so it proved. I was beginning to 

 feel that I could not stand this terrible exposure 

 much longer, and earnestly lifted up my heart to 

 God in prayer that we might be led to the friendly 

 shelter of a snow dwelling, when I happened to 

 look through the drift, and there, quite close at 

 hand, I saw two or three dim lights shining from 

 the oil lamps inside these Arctic hotels. It did not 

 take long to wake up some of our friends. I was 

 kindly received and housed by a conjuror named 

 Okittok. My garments, which were literally coated 

 with snow, were beaten with a stick, and I was soon 

 in my fur bag. I did not, however, sleep much 

 during the remainder of the night. Some eight 

 hours tossing about had chilled me through and 

 through.&quot; 



&quot; April 12. As we were near some Eskimos we 

 gladly entered their snow-house, and soon had 

 something warm to drink. As I had not had the 

 pleasure of washing for three days I felt that I must 

 by some means have an ablution. Nothing in the 

 shape of washing utensils, however, could be found 

 amongst these primitive people, so I took my 

 frying pan, and in this managed to have a kind 

 of wash.&quot; 



