BACK OVER THE GLACIERS 203 



to build a snow igloo, and I invited them all to re- 

 main in the shack with me. Their delight at the 

 prospect, due largely to the compliment paid them 

 of desiring their company, was unbounded. 



Presently the gale assumed terrific proportions, 

 and penetrated the shack to such an extent the stove 

 proved of small avail to keep us warm. At length 

 the stovepipe blew down, and continued to blow down 

 as quickly as it was replaced, and in spite of all we 

 could do to keep it in position, until finally it was 

 found necessary to let the fire go out that we might 

 not be smothered by gas. Upon consulting my 

 thermometer I found the temperature twenty-eight 

 degrees below zero, and crawled into my sleeping-bag 

 to keep warm. 



It was very amusing to watch the Eskimos pre- 

 pare for bed. They stripped naked, then wrapped 

 themselves in deerskins and rolled up in a bunch as 

 close together as they could get. It makes no dif- 

 ference to them how crowded a place is nor how 

 many there are of them, there is always room enough 

 and for one more. 



The women were quite beyond my understanding. 

 For weeks at a time they would remain inactive 

 within the igloos, taking no physical exercise what- 

 ever, and then start out upon a two or three hun- 

 dred mile journey or more, often with a good-sized 

 piccaninny upon their backs, running up hill and 

 down after the komatik, and never showing signs of 

 weariness. When the piccaninny is hungry, no mat- 

 ter how cold the weather, they sit down on the ice 



