LEARNING TO LIVE AS AN ESKIMO 77 



certainty that several of the children had been awake 

 continuously from three to five days. I have never since 

 been at a village similarly situated, but I have frequently 

 known Eskimos, both older people and youngsters, to 

 stay awake as long as two and three days. Indeed, I 

 am so used to doing this myself that I am not likely 

 even to note it in my diaries. 



One day a boat came from the west bringing us news 

 of importance. The whaling ship Narwhal had arrived 

 at Herschel Island with messages from the Duchess of 

 Bedford. This news had been so ill understood by the 

 Eskimos that I became very anxious to go to Herschel 

 Island to learn the whole truth. The Eskimos said the 

 Narwhal had gone off on a short whaling cruise but 

 would probably be back at Herschel Island harbor by 

 now. It was said she did not have any considerable 

 amount of trade goods, but I thought I should be able 

 to buy from her some flour and other groceries. It was 

 accordingly arranged that I should take Sten's whale- 

 boat and make a trip in it to Herschel Island to get for 

 him and me jointly a boatload of supplies. Roxy and 

 Oblutok, my companions of the summer journey from 

 Macpherson to Herschel, decided they would go with me, 

 Mrs. Roxy coming along too. We sailed for Herschel 

 Island and got there without incident. 



