88 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



been killed, and she could not support the children herself, 

 and no man would take her as a wife so long as she had a 

 child small enough to be carried in the hood. I asked her 

 if this was always done, and she said : " Oh, yes, the women 

 are compelled to do it." 



Mr. Peary has spoken to M'gipsu about staying at Red- 

 clifife as seamstress, and she is delighted at the opportunity. 

 When Ikwa heard of this arrangement he rushed in and 

 wanted to know why he was "no good" for Peary, and why 

 Mane could not do the sewing, and said that if Peary pre- 

 ferred Annowkah and M'gipsu he would pull down his igloo 

 and take his family back to Keati. It was some little 

 time before we could quiet him and make him understand 

 that we needed more than one woman to sew all of the 

 clothing. 



The last three days have been particularly busy ones for me, 

 as Matt has been sick in bed with something like the grippe, 

 and I have had the cooking to do in addition to the sewing. 

 The poor fellow has had an uncomfortable time, but the doc- 

 tor says he will be all right in a day or two. 



Our house looks like a huge snow-drift from a little distance, 

 so completely is it covered with snow. The whole village 

 presents the appearance of a series of snow- mounds of various 

 sizes. We have five snow igloos inhabited by the natives, 

 besides a storehouse, an experimental snow-house, and some 

 dog-houses, all built of blocks of snow. Just at present we 

 are getting quite a little amusement out of two young natives 



