128 MY ARCTIC JOURNAL 



Eskimo ladies belonging to the house took off all of their 

 clothing except their necklaces of sinishaw, just as uncon- 

 cernedly as though no one were present. 



The odor of the place was indescribable. Our stove did 

 not work properly and gave forth a pungent smell of kero- 

 sene ; the blubber in the other stoves sizzled and sometimes 

 smoked; and the huskies — well, suffice it to say that was a 

 decidedly unpleasant atmosphere in which I spent the night. 



I soon found that if I kept my feet on the floor they would 

 freeze, and the only way I could keep them off the floor was 

 to draw up my knees and rest the side of one foot on the edge 

 of the platform and place the other upon it. In this way, and 

 leaning on my elbow, I sat from ten at night until ten in the 

 morning, dressed just as I was on the sledge. I made the 

 best of the situation, and pretended to Mr. Peary that it was 

 quite a lark. 



Mr. Peary went out to look after the dogs several times 

 during the night, and each time reported that the wind was 

 still blowing fiercely and the snow drifting. In the morning 

 the wind had subsided somewhat, and after coffee the dogs 

 were hitched, and we resumed our journey, heading for Keati. 



After traveling about an hour we came upon a single stone 

 igloo, which proved to be Nipzangwa's ; he and his father, old 

 Kulutunah, immediately came out to meet us. We reached 

 Keati, the inhabitants of which had been apprised in advance 

 of our coming by special messenger, about noon, and an hour 

 later, reinforced with additional dogs, started across the Sound 



