174 A YEAR WITH A WHALER 



far north of the outmost verge of the world's 

 commerce. There was nothing left for him to 

 do but settle among the Eskimos and wait for 

 the arrival of the whaling fleet in the following 

 summer. 



During the long Arctic night, with the tem- 

 perature forty and fifty degrees below zero, he 

 lived in an igloo after the manner of the natives ; 

 learned to eat raw meat and blubber — there was 

 nothing else to eat — became fluent in the Es- 

 kimo language; and took an Eskimo girl for a 

 wife. He found existence among these human 

 anachronisms left over from the stone ;age a 

 monotonously dreary and soul-wearying experi- 

 ence, and he waited with nervous impatience for 

 the coming of the fleet with its annual oppor- 

 tunity for getting back to civilization. 



The first year passed and the ships anchored in 

 Port Clarence. He hurried out in his kyack to 

 ask the Captains for permission to work his way 

 back to San Francisco. He never once doubted 

 that they would give him his chance. But a 

 sad surprise was in store for him. From ship to 

 ship he went, begging to be allowed to remain 



