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CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



fire, kindled with old wood from a blubber cache and saturated 

 with oil, which warmed us up, dried our clothing and blankets, 

 and served to roast a couple of ptarmigans. Old Sachawachick's 

 thoughts went back to the days when this country had been a 

 closed book to him, when it was inhabited by the greatest 

 enemies to himself and to all western Eskimos, the Kokmoliks, 



ESKIMO WOMEN PLUCKING BIRDS OUTSIDE OUR HOUSE. 



who were roaming over the country in numbers. On the very 

 spot where we were sitting an awful tragedy had taken place in 

 Sachawachick's youth ; a man, whose wife had just died, burned 

 himself and his grown-up daughter to death while crowds 

 watched the gruesome sight. The man must have been mad, 

 but his life was his own and his daughter belonged to him, 

 so why interfere ? It was no one's business. Sachawachick 

 told us this and other instances of cruelty, but as the people 

 had been his enemies he may have been exaggerating. While 

 we lay dozing near the warm fire I thought I could hear the 

 cries of the unhappy girl when she was bound to the stake 

 by her father and felt the fire which he had kindled catch 

 hold of the wood and blubber, and knew that in a few seconds 



