374 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



I had expected to get some food from Dr. Driggs, but the 

 supply ship had stranded, and the white men had hardly any- 

 thing to eat themselves. He had only a few sacks of rather bad 

 flour, and was living on seal meat, the diet of the natives. 

 This meant that I would have to pick my way to Candle as best 

 I could, and must hope to get food as I went along. 



The school teacher provided me with a sledge, which I soon 

 got into good shape, but although the white men at Point 

 Hope were nice and kind, it was not an agreeable place to stay 

 in. Dog-feed was very expensive, and in one place I had to pay 

 $2.0 fo'r a small seal ; this was not owing to any scarcity of 

 food, as the inhabitants had ample provision of seal, but they 

 had no idea of the real value of money, and consequently 

 demanded exorbitant prices. 



During the summer these people work in the mines at Candle, 

 while their women earn money themselves by sewing and 

 washing ; and the natives have not learned the explanation of 

 the riddle that they can make $5.0 a day during the summer- 

 time, and get $5.0 for a pair of kamicks in a mining camp, while 

 they cannot get more than half the amount in winter, when the 

 demand is small. In the same way they have never learned to 

 understand the full meaning of another " white man's word," 

 which, however, they use frequently enough a mile. We may 

 ask a native how many miles he thinks we will have to cover 

 before we come to such and such a camp, and he will look as if 

 he reflected most seriously, count on his fingers, and then say, 

 with a happy grin, " Me believe him six miles away," although 

 it may be thirty, or on the other hand he may, after much 

 reflection, tell us it is thirty when it is only six. 



The weather was bad for several days after I reached Point 

 Hope, and I was not able to start before December 14, when I 

 left in company with Jim Allen, who was going to Candle to 

 buy some baking powder. Candle was two hundred and fifty 

 miles distant. 



The recent storms had blown the ice out to sea from Cape 

 Thompson, and we had to cross overland. It was a steep climb, 

 and it tried the strength of the dogs severely, although the sledge 

 was now as light as it could be I had not an ounce of food on 

 it. Downhill all went well, and the small caravan for four 

 native sledges had joined us was moving along at the greatest 



