TWO JONATHANS 



snow hut, I asked them, "Why do you call each 

 other Jonata ? " 



Julius took a few good puffs at his pipe and 

 answered " Illan4rengnermut " (because of friendship). 



"Then why not call yourselves David and 

 Jonathan ? " said I ; " one be David and the other 

 be Jonathan ? " 



"No," said he, "Jonathan was the friend"; and 

 Johannes nodded in approval. I said no more ; and 

 Jonathan they both remained as long as I knew 

 them. 



" Friends " yes, and my friends, too. 



Let me put in a good word for my Eskimo 

 drivers. 



I have travelled hundreds of miles with those 

 two men, uphill and down, over mountain passes and 

 across the rugged surface of the frozen sea ; I have 

 camped in snow huts with them,Sforty miles from the 

 nearest other human being ; I have taken them from 

 their homes and their hunting at the shortest notice ; 

 I have pushed them on when some emergency called 

 though I knew they would rather rest ; I have kept 

 them back when they would gladly have made a 

 start; through winter storms, and worse, through 

 awful winter rains, we three have gone together ; 

 and never; a cross word, never a complaint, never a 

 grumble, have I heard from them. Rough Eskimos, 

 both, fond of raw meat and rancid oil, but capable of 

 gentleness and affection and absolutely worthy of the 

 trust I placed in them. It was not all pleasure for 

 those two men. I have seen them cold and wet 

 many a time; I have seen them risk their lives a 

 time or two ; but they loved those old journeys. 



Little Johannes wrote to me a few months ago, 



156 



