126 HUNTERS OF THE GREAT NORTH 



though the house temperature seldom fell below 70° these 

 windows did not melt, for they were kept hard by the 

 outdoors frost which now averaged about 30 ° Fahrenheit 

 below zero. On an occasional warm day it was necessary, 

 Kunak told me, to curtain them off with a blanket to 

 protect them from being thawed by the heat of the 

 interior. 



After a pleasant visit at Kunak's house, we traveled 

 next day something like twelve miles across one of the 

 Eskimo Lakes to the journey's end. Our arrival seemed 

 both to surprise and delight Harrison, who was having 

 rather a lonesome time, for Kakotok, with whose family 

 he was living, knew scarcely a word of English and Har- 

 rison had not mastered even the Eskimo jargon. It may 

 have been because of his bringing up as an English coun- 

 try gentleman or because of a naturally aloof disposition 

 that he was living in one house with his Eskimo servants 

 in another, on terms about as intimate as if they were 

 neighbors in a suburb. Getting some one to talk with 

 was a relief to Harrison. It was added good luck that 

 both of us were fond of chess, which helped pass the time. 

 He was a very good chess player. 



Ilavinirk had told me that he had had to abandon the 

 idea of spending the winter on the Eskimo Lakes because 

 of the poor fishing. I now asked Kakotok about the fish- 

 ing at Harrison's camp and found that, although it had 

 been much better than llavinirk's, still it was getting 

 worse every day, and he much feared that they also would 

 have to leave the lakes and come down to the coast. He 

 felt sure they would cither have to do this or else go with 

 the dog teams on a journey to the coast, spending a month 

 or so and leaving only some of the family to keep the 

 camp in the forest. The feeding of the dogs through 



