THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 435 



would not forego one of their ten daily hand-washings for the sake 

 of the dry heat which would reduce the damp of the frame house, 

 were nevertheless thoroughly dissatisfied with it. Now when they 

 saw how clean and dry the snowhouse was they asked permission 

 to move out into it daytimes to do their sewing. This was desirable 

 for they could work there much better, partly because there was 

 nobody moving to interfere with them but chiefly because they were 

 more comfortable and had better light. Although we used no ice 

 window, plenty of daylight came in through the roof, which was 

 made of blocks no more than two and a half inches thick. The 

 days were now short ; in fact, the sun had some time before ceased 

 to appear above the high land to the south. The more industrious 

 women used to sew seven or eight hours a day. For them the snow- 

 house was as desirable after dark as in daytime, for two or three 

 candles stuck around gave more light than the several "Rochester" 

 lamps used in the main house. 



November 16th we made the start for Cape Kellett. The party 

 consisted of Noice, Martin Kilian, Emiu and myself, with two 

 sledges and nine dogs. We expected to meet Captain Gonzales on 

 the way and get a few more dogs from him, and did so the follow- 

 ing day near Deans Dundas Bay. I then had the story of the rest 

 of his adventures with the Minto Inlet Eskimos, and it was even 

 worse than I had feared. 



On the way down the Captain's party had spent a day or two 

 with Illun at his hunting camp on Ramsay Island, and had then 

 continued to the village in Minto Inlet. The Eskimos had had 

 plenty of time to hear and to brood over the story of Nutaittok 

 and Taptuna. The Captain arrived in the afternoon while there 

 was plenty of daylight and moved into the old snowhouse that had 

 been built for our shelter. 



The people at first showed no open hostility but were merely dis- 

 tant and non-communicative, and in every way different from their 

 ordinary selves. Later when the Captain attempted to commence 

 trading with them a crowd gathered around. An article which they 

 would ordinarily have examined politely and handed back with an 

 inquiry of the price, they now passed one to the other until they 

 got it to the outskirts of the crowd when some one would take it 

 and run away with it. Presently the Captain's trade articles were 

 seen to be not numerous enough to go around, and there set in a 

 scramble where every one seized what he could and ran away. In 

 some cases there were fights, although none serious, where several 

 Eskimos struggled for the possession of a single article. In a few 



