450 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



seem to get excited. A whole box of candy and a lot of raisins went like 

 wildfire. We topped it off with a big pot of dog pemmican (horse-meat) and 

 dried vegetables. Then gave each woman five yards of painted calico and 

 each man a plug of tobacco. Then the phonograph. At general request I 

 gave them a " Kabloona" to the music of Sousa's, and all hands agreed that 

 it was the finest exposition of the Terpsichorean art ever seen along the 

 coast ! Last summer they gave a big dance at the village (now four houses 

 and five tents) and gave Captain Mikkelsen and the doctor mamiks 

 (mittens). I popped some corn, which excited the natives greatly ; they 

 thought there must be a devil in it. If you feel like sending up a dozen one- 

 bladed pocket knives of good steel it would make a very acceptable Christ- 

 mas present for the men and boys next year. 



When a white man has plenty of grub the natives are sharp on trades, but 

 they will always share their little with any one who is hungry. I could live 

 on Sacha's grub pile as long as I cared to, in case I should run out. * * * * 



ERNEST LEFFINGWELL. 



