160 HUNTING WITH THE ESKIMOS 



I was also short of heavy underwear, and was 

 forced finally on New Year's day to adopt birdskin 

 shirts such as the Eskimos wear. Thus in the matter 

 of apparel, at least, I had by degrees reverted into 

 the primitive man of the region. All of the clothing 

 worn by me was now of skin, sewn with animal sinew, 

 and made by the women of the igloos. On the whole 

 it was better adapted to the climate and conditions, 

 perhaps, than woolen. 



Not only dog food, but man food, was all but ex- 

 hausted in the settlement, and the day after Christ- 

 mas two dogs, the property of Outta, one of the 

 Eskimos with Peary on the Roosevelt, had been killed. 

 All of the best meat was cut off for human consump- 

 tion, the balance fed to the teams. But until moon- 

 light returned nothing could be done to relieve the 

 situation. Darkness was too dense to venture upon 

 treacherous ice floes for walrus. 



Two days later the first reflection of a new moon 

 came. Awhella took dogs and komatik ten miles 

 south for some walrus meat he had cached, and upon 

 his return reported much open water, with ice drift- 

 ing rapidly. Northern lights were flashing, not a 

 breath of wind stirring, and the awful stillness was 

 broken by the distant startling thunder of crashing, 

 grinding floes, many miles to the southward, as the 

 current carried them swiftly toward the open ocean. 



This is the season when Eskimos do not like to 

 venture far out upon the sea ice, as one can never 

 tell what moment the floes will disrupt and break 

 loose from the main ice. It is the time of year when 



