CHAPTER XII 



THE LIFE AT TUKTUYAKTOK 



It was only after my return to Tuktuyaktok that I be- 

 gan to live like a real Eskimo. Up to this time there had 

 always been some difference between me and the natives. 

 Sometimes I had salt when they had none, and generally 

 my fish had been cooked in a special way. When they 

 had been eating theirs boiled or raw frozen, mine had 

 been roasted or baked ; and when they ate heads, I seldom 

 joined them although occasionally I allowed myself to 

 be coaxed to taste this great delicacy of theirs. Ovayuak 

 told me now that he would have things specially prepared 

 for me if I wished it, but I decided to stop pampering 

 myself, partly because it was a bother for the Eskimos to 

 look after me specially and partly because I wanted to 

 live exactly as they did so as to get their point of view. 



The house we lived in had a framework of driftwood 

 and the roof was supported by numerous wooden pillars* 

 The earthen walls were five or six feet thick at the base 

 and became thinner towards the top of the wall, which was 

 only about five feet high. Then the roof sloped up from 

 all sides in "cottage" fashion, and at the peak was a level 

 square space about six feet each way. There was about 

 a foot of earth on top of the roof planking. In the center 

 of the roof was a window about three feet in diameter, 

 made by sewing together translucent strips of polar bear 

 intestines. On a clear day in midwinter this window 

 gave enough light so that all the lamps could have been 

 extinguished for about four hours. 



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