AN ARTIST IN THE FROZEN ZONE 



By ALBERT OPERTI 



F THE reader imagine himself writing letters 

 seated in an express wagon which is being 

 driven rapidly over a rubble-stone roadway, 

 on a cold, snowy, blowy day in February, 

 then he may gain some idea of the conditions 

 under which the work of taking plaster casts 

 of the Eskimo was effected during the trip 

 North with the Peary expedition of 1896. 

 Without studio facilities, with few tools, and 

 with every inconvenience possible to encounter, the work 

 was successfully performed. A few casts were made in 

 semi-comfort, on board and ashore, but at all other times 

 under great difficulties. 



The necessary outfit consisted of five barrels of fine qual- 

 ity plaster of Paris, three gallons of vaseline, two hundred 

 pounds of modeling clay, some salt, and a few iron pails. 

 These were especially packed and shipped from New York 

 to be put on board the steam sealer " Hope," at Sidney, 

 Cape Breton. My personal outfit for this work was made 

 up of a bundle of quill toothpicks, cotton batting, a ball 

 of twine, tissue paper, tape measure, calipers, and a few 

 modeling tools. The plaster of Paris was stowed in the 

 hold near the boiler to prevent moisture — which reached 

 it, nevertheless. 



I found from experience that vaseline was more con- 

 venient in the oil state. In the original form it would 

 freeze hard and required constant heating over the boiler, 

 to the detriment of the work. 



Upon reaching Cape York, the Eskimo came over the 

 ice to the ship, fog preventing our going close to the 



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