LIFE AND HISTORY OF THE ESKIMOS 



the other from a team of two. And it was obvious that the 

 dogs must have been quite exhausted, for none of the travellers 

 had been able to ride on the sledges. We saw the tracks of 

 two men and two women ; and, between these, the tiny imprints 

 of children's feet — children of at most five or six years of age. 

 The tracks came from Humboldt's Glacier and pointed down- 

 ward to Etah. 



" Look, the little ones have walked that long, long way," 

 said one of the Eskimos when he saw the children's tracks. 



"Our women bear strong children !" cried the other one, 

 examining the tracks as he ran. 



We decided to turn at once and make for the camp at 

 Anoritoq, as there was a possibility of others being on the way 

 and in the vicinity. It was impossible to tell what these people 

 might have suffered and in what condition they might be. In 

 great excitement we reached our destination. No one was 

 there. Then we drove back again and on to Etah, and there at 

 last we found them : two families, Odaq with his wife, a little 

 son of five years, and a baby-in-arms ; Agpalinguaq with his 

 wife, a small daughter, and an almost new-born babe. 



These Arctic travellers all looked like people who are return- 

 ing from a little pleasure trip, well fed and smilingly healthy. 

 The women and the little ones had just finished a walking tour 

 of a hundred miles, the mothers with their smallest children on 

 their backs, and all of them had for more than a month been a 

 prey to the cold and the sweeping blizzards out on the ice. And 

 if a blast is to be found anywhere in Greenland you will find it 

 by Humboldt's Glacier — a blast with a bite in it. Another 

 eight families were still on the way ; two sledges had dropped a 

 little behind the others, delayed because the women that 

 accompanied them gave birth to their children whilst travelling. 

 They told us in this manner, quietly and as a matter of fact, 

 without any attempt to be sensational. 



But never in my life as an Arctic traveller have I felt smaller 

 than when faced by these child-bearing women, who with babes 

 at their breasts undertook journeys which might have cost many 

 a white man his life. 



11 



