ARCTIC FESTIVITIES 91 



her. Kyo also left at the same time for his home at Omanooy. 

 He says he will return in ten days with a load of deerskins 

 A\hich he has at his igloo. Mr. Peary loaned him two of his 

 dogs, and has promised him ammunition in exchange for 

 the deerskins. We are anxious to see what kind of a gun he 

 has; he says he got it from an old man who had received it 

 from a white man long ago. 



We have had a great house-cleaning in honor of the ap- 

 proaching holidays. I have replaced the cretonne curtains at 

 the bottom of my bed, wash-stand, bookcase, and trunk, with 

 new ones, and have put fresh muslin curtains at my windows. 

 The boys have cleaned the large room, taking all superfluous 

 lumber and tools out, and have even scrubbed the floor. The 

 natives think we are crazy to waste so much water. Poor 

 things, they think water Avas made only for drinking purposes. 



Saturday, December 26. Just after I made the last entry 

 in my journal, one of the boys reported that the tide- 

 gage wire was broken. Mr. Peary, Verhoefif, and Gibson 

 went out to put it in commission. After about an hour Ver- 

 hoefif rushed into the house calling, " Doctor, Doctor, come 

 out to the tide-gage as quick as you can ! " The doctor, 

 whose turn it was to be night-watchman, and who was there- 

 fore asleep at this hour, tumbled out of his bunk and into his 

 clothes, and made a rush for the tide-gage. I was lying in 

 my bed suffering from the effects of a sick-headache ; but never 

 having fully recovered from the shock caused by Mr. Peary's 

 accident in Melville Bay, and realizing that he was not yet 



