1 8 Olof K rarer. 



So they started out. My father's family was the 

 largest in the party, there being ten of us in all. 

 Most Esquimaux families had only three or four 

 children in them^ — sometimes only one child, and often 

 none at all. I was a young and giddy thing then, 

 and was glad to go. We traveled a long way down 

 the coast, hunting as we went. Then we turned right 

 out on to the ocean itself. On the way there were 

 three polar bears killed and some seals and other an- 

 imals, so that we had plenty to eat. I remember we 

 would sometimes take something to eat when the 

 sledges were flying over the ice with the dogs at full 

 gallop. At intervals we fed the dogs, and they 

 gathered closely round the sled and soon all were 

 asleep. When we woke up we went on again. While 

 on the ocean we often heard the sound of the ice 

 breaking up, and would have to hurry away to escape 

 being caught in the upheaval. We finally reached 

 Iceland after being two months and some days on 

 the way, according to the Icelanders' calculation, and 

 having traveled about a thousand miles. 



The people in Iceland were astonished to see us 

 little people. They came to see us from a long dis- 

 tance. We were all weighed and measured. My 

 father stood three feet five inches, and weighed i6o 

 pounds. My mother was the same height woman 

 that I am, and weighed 150. None of my brothers was 

 quite so tall as my father, but they came near his 

 weight. One of my sisters was only three feet two 

 inches, and weighed 142. I weighed 136 pounds. 



