I06 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



work. They, as well as all the other native women, usually 

 take off their kamiks and stockint^s while in the house, so that 

 almost the entire leg is bare, their trousers being mere trunks. 

 They sit flat on the floor, using their feet and legs to hold 

 the work, and their mouths to make it pliable ; the thimble is 

 worn on the forefinger, and they sew from right to left. The 

 thread is made as they need it by splitting the deer or narwhal 

 sinews and moistening them in the mouth. While at this 

 work the babies are being continually rocked or shifted on 

 their backs without the aid of the hands. The children are 

 carried in the hood constantly, whether awake or asleep, for 

 the first year, and only taken out when fed. They are tiny, 

 ugly creatuf-es, and until they are able to walk never wear 

 anything but a sealskin cap which fits close about the face, 

 where it is edged with fox, and a foxskin jacket reaching to 

 the waist. 



Saturday, January 23. I cleaned "house," which means 

 our little room, seven by twelve. This in itself would be no 

 task, but we have no brooms, and every inch of my floor is 

 swept with a whisk-broom and on my knees. As I have only 

 one whisk, and that a silver-handled one, I can afford to sweep 

 thoroughly only once a week. I have put an old blanket 

 down which covers the carpet in the middle of the room, 

 where all the walking and working is done. This blanket is 

 shaken every day and the room brushed up, giving us a fairly 

 clean apartment. I also finished the sleeping-bag cover. Now 

 at midnight the temperature is —30^°, and the doctor and 



