WINTER QUARTERS 117 



We had reckoned that Dr. Howe would be back by this, but 

 there was as yet no sign of him. I was feeling worried, and 

 could not help thinking of all the things which might happen 

 to inexperienced men on the trail. Thuesen had been a 

 member of the Baldwin-Ziegler Expedition, but he had never 

 been out on any of the larger trips and was hardly experienced 

 enough to take care of himself on the trail. I thought that 

 Mr. LefBngwell might have been stopped by open water and 

 have kept Dr. Howe with hirn, and that was the only possible 

 explanation ; but it was certain that we would have to search 

 for him if he did not come back shortly. 



The rumour that a ship full of provisions was wintering at 

 Flaxrnan Island had rapidly spread over the country, and 

 several Eskimos, who were not in the habit of coming down to 

 the coast, had arrived with their families. 



On October 29 a large party consisting of six men, five 

 women, and ten children had arrived and made their camp in 

 the village on the east end of the island. I went down in the 

 afternoon and saw when I approached that everything was 

 astir and that there was great excitement everywhere. Each 

 family was raising temporary homes around Sachawachick's 

 house, because the visitors had no intention of doing any work 

 themselves, and had been attracted by the number of seals he 

 had in stock. The children were playing about with the 

 sledge dogs and pups, but hurried along to their mothers as 

 soon as I arrived, while those in tents or houses scrambled 

 out with equal hurry to have a look at me, as soon as the 

 words " Umialik kaily " announced my arrival. 



As I wanted to see Sachawachick, I crawled into his house, 

 but I had hardly sat down before the door opened, and in they 

 came, big and small, squatting down on the floor, looking at 

 me and smoking their horrid tobacco. I was formally intro- 

 duced by the host, who told me the names of his unbidden 

 .guests, and as I pulled out all the tobacco I had in my pockets 

 and told the visitors to help themselves, a pleasant understanding 

 was soon established. 



It was a weird scene, the six men, five women, and ten 

 children, besides Sachawachick's family, stripped to the waist, 

 chewing tobacco and smoking, and at the same time glaring at 

 me as if I were an animal in a zoological garden, talking freely 



