206 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



I explained to them that it was Christmas Eve, what 

 Christmas signified, why white men observed and cele- 

 brated it, and that I proposed we in the Arctic should 

 not let it go unnoticed. Our little community at 

 Annootok would have just as fine a time as circum- 

 stances would permit. 



At the stroke of twelve, as my watch told it, on 

 Christmas morning, I presented each family with some 

 canned provisions. This was a gift much prized by 

 them, not only because canned goods appeal to them 

 generally as a very great luxury, but particularly at 

 this time because their food supplies were getting 

 exceedingly low. 



As for myself, I opened some delicious jam pre- 

 sented me by Mrs. Carnegie, which I had kept for 

 the occasion, and a box of Huylor's candy, a gift 

 from Mrs. Peary, which I had also preserved for 

 Christmas. Later in the day I tried my hand at making 

 a cake, but it was a flat failure, so soggy and heavy 

 that I was afraid to eat much of it. This, too, went to 

 the Eskimos, and they appeared to enjoy it exceedingly. 



We were to have games, and I rigged up a small 

 piece of ivory with a hole in the centre, which was 

 suspended at the end of a string at the middle of the 

 shack. While I busied myself with this the Eskimos 

 made some little spears with shafts two feet long, 

 and points of walrus-tusk ivory. The game was to 

 stab the suspended, swinging ivory disk, in the hole in 

 the centre, with the tiny spears. It was rollicking fun 

 to watch the eleven men and women trying to excel 

 each other, while all the children were packed put of 

 the way in one corner like sardines in a box. The 

 contestants entered into the game with heart and soul, 



