78 



AKCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



and stimulants were at once supplied ; and thus, with careful treat- 

 ment, they soon recovered. 



At 10 P.M. the gale had died away to a calm, and we all re- 

 tired to sleep, completely exhausted with our bodily and mental 

 labors of the past few hours. 



About this time I enjoyed a rare sight. One of the Esquimaux 

 turned summersets in the water seated in his kyack! Over and 

 over he and his kyack went, till we cried "Enough !" and yet he 

 wet only his hands and face ! This is a feat performed only by a 

 few. It requires great skill and strength to do it. One miss in 

 the stroke of the oar as they pass from the centre (when their 

 head and body are under water) to the surface might terminate 

 fatally. No one will attempt this feat, however, unless a com- 



ESQUIMAUX FEAT— A SUJV1MEBSET. 



panion in his kyack is near. The next feat I witnessed was for 

 an Esquimaux to run his kyack, while seated in it, over another. 

 Getting some distance off, he strikes briskly and pushes forward. 

 In an instant he is over, having struck the upturned peak of his 

 own kyack nearly amidships, and at right angles, of the other. 

 These feats were rewarded by a few pings of tobacco. 



The day after the gale we had a mishap on board that threat- 

 ened to prove serious, and, as it was, it detained us some days 

 longer in Holsteinborg. Our anchors fouled, and, in trying to 

 get one of them, the windlass gear broke. 



At this time our deck was crowded by the crews of both ves- 

 sels, and Esquimaux men, women, and children, besides some dogs 



