Publishe rs' Preface 



These last excursions, however, he has been obliged 

 to discontinue in consequence of having frozen one 

 of his feet, several years since, when he fell from 

 an ice floe into the ocean, and was with difficulty 

 dragged out by his companions. 



And right here it might be as well to observe that 

 the pretty picture which childhood's memories de- 

 pict as adorning a page in our Physical Geography, 

 with its fur-clad traveler sitting comfortably on his 

 sledge, brandishing his whip and dashing gaily 

 along behind a row of trotting dogs, is more im- 

 aginative than accurate. The real use of the dog- 

 team, it would appear, is merely to drag the traveler's 

 baggage. The men plough along through the snow 

 in front, and the animals, harnessed in single file, 

 drag the sledge behind them, following the woman, 

 to whom they are accustomed to turn for their food. 



Thrown thus into close contact with Dr. Driggs, 

 their physician when ill, their teacher in health, their 

 friend and protector always, the natives gradually 

 learned to discard the suspicion with which they 

 must have originally regarded him, and confided to 

 him their traditions and legends, which primarily 

 they would naturally have guarded with the most 

 sedulous care. How many an evening camp-fire, 

 8 



