BEYOND THE ARCTIC CIRCLE 251 



As I drew near the lodge I saw a living thing quite close 

 to it, moving slowly, and evidently with great difficulty. It 

 was a few appreciable moments before I discovered it to 

 be the lost Seeyah. The Indians had evidently given him 

 up as lost or forgotten him, as not a signal had been fired in 

 the morning. Poor fellow, he was a miserable looking ob- 

 ject, coated with ice from head to foot, and barely able to 

 crawl. 



None of the other Indians had returned from the musk- 

 ox skinning, so I took it upon myself to care for him. I 

 got out my pint of brandy, which, by-the-way, was frozen, 

 not solidly, but so that it had the appearance of slush just 

 at the point of congelation, and a cup of this I poured 

 down his throat. Then I indulged in the extravagance of 

 making a little fire to boil some tea, and ransacked the 

 sledges for whatever there was to eat. I put before him 

 all the intestines and pieces of fat I could find, and when 

 he had thawed out sufficiently to move easily he fell upon 

 them like a famishing beast. As a matter of fact, he ate 

 steadily until he had devoured the last scrap, and I may 

 say, incidentally, depleted our larder. 



However, I felt there would be enough from the musk- 

 ox killing for the dogs and ourselves, and was therefore 

 reckless with provisions. 



After a time the Indians returned with their robes and 

 a sledge-load of meat for the dogs, and intestines and fat 

 for ourselves, all of which was thrown inside the lodge. 

 And such a looking place ! more nearly like a slaughter- 

 pen than a house of man. The intestines were hung from 

 the lodge-poles, so that you could not see from one side 

 of the lodge to the other, and when you passed out you 

 crawled on hands and knees under this intestinal net- 

 work and over the bloody flesh and hearts and livers 

 and unborn calves that completely covered the ground. 



