THE WHITE WORLD 



Sohon, champion cribbage player. It was never dull with 

 such a party on board, even though we were enveloped in 

 fog half the time. Here I witnessed my first game of 

 cricket. Cricket, with the ball tied to the mast, has its 

 charms of novelty, but also its drawbacks. A run started 

 on a deck constantly changing from horizontal to nearly 

 vertical does not always end as the runner would have it; 

 neither is cricket interesting when the ball is slipped from 

 its moorings and is dancing on the waves. We found auc- 

 tions entertaining, with the auctioneer, a college man of 

 wide experience, who sold articles stealthily taken from 

 his room back to their owner — usually Professor Stein. 



The voyage up to a certain time was probably identical 

 with others. But we soon left civilization behind. One 

 morning, hearing a commotion on deck, I hurried up the 

 companionway and found all gazing at a large iceberg. 

 From that time familiar sights passed from me and I looked 

 " upon a world unknown." We were heading for Baffin's 

 Land to leave Jensen who had a whaling station there, and 

 a party of students who intended to remain for hunting 

 and fishing. Baffin's Land! Nightmare of Loneliness! 

 Acme of Desolation! Barrenness! Dreariness! Rockiness! 



When the ship anchored, Mr. Jensen was disappointed 

 to find none of the natives on shore to welcome him. Soon, 

 however, after firing several bomb guns to call them if 

 near, he was rejoiced to see a sail appear upon the horizon. 

 It proved to belong to a boat containing one man, three 

 women, five children, several dogs and puppies, and a 

 number of highly perfumed skins. These were the first 

 Eskimo I had ever seen, and they were certainly a strange 

 looking people. 



We remained on shore most of that day and part of the 

 next, while the supplies for Jensen's five years' stay were 

 unloaded, together with those of the sportsmen, and here 

 I had the novel experience of coasting down hill in August. 

 It was a fine long slope covered with hard snow, and after 

 watching Mr. Lee slide a few times, I looked around to see 

 that no one was in sight, gathered my skirts around me, sat 

 down and slid, sans sled. I enjoyed it so much' that I 

 repeated it several times. When we returned to the sta- 

 tion, some of the gentlemen asked me if I enjoyed my 



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