122 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



a moment before beaming with hope and happiness at the thought 

 of meeting her father, was instantly changed to an expression of 

 deep woe ! Tears coursed down her cheeks, and, though the usu- 

 al calm dignity of Esquimaux nature forbade outcries or noisy 

 lamentation, yet it was evident she most acutely felt the sudden 

 calamity. Her Esquimaux friends, and all who knew her father, 

 sympathized greatly with her, as indeed did we Americans. Ev- 

 ery thing in our power was done to alleviate her distress, but it 

 was long before she got over the shock. 



In one of the oomiens there were no less than eighteen women 

 and children, an old "patriarch" named Ar-tarJc-pa-ru, who was 

 crippled in both nether limbs, but blessed with the heaviest beard 

 and mustache yet seen among his people — ten dogs, tents, rein- 

 deer skins in immense number, venison, seal-blubber, ducks, wal- 

 rus heads and tusks, hunting instruments, and, in truth, all the 

 worldly goods of some seven families ! 



Having made fast the oomiens astern, taken the kias on board, 

 hoisted the old man up by a rope, and allowed all the rest to 

 mount as best they could, we soon had our decks crowded with 

 about thirty good-humored natives of all ages and sizes, and of 

 both sexes. 



It was not long, however, before the female portion were put to 

 work in skinning some of the ducks. While doing so I sat be- 

 side them, and eagerly watched their operations. They asked me 

 for my knife, and were delighted with the excellent one I lent 

 them. Taking a duck, and drawing the knife once around the 

 outer joint of each wing and the head, they seized the cut part 

 with their teeth, and stripped the fowl entire ! The ducks were 

 very fat, and most of it adhered to the skin. This caused these 

 daughters of the North to rejoice with each other on the feast of 

 fat skins that awaited them on completing their work ! After all 

 the ducks had been skinned, they were delivered to the cook as 

 fresh provision for the ship's company. It was understood that 

 for preparing these ducks the native women were to have the 

 skins as pay, and this was considered ample. A short time after- 

 ward I saw mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters in bed on deck, 

 with their duck-skins in hand, peeling off the " luxurious" fat with 

 their teeth, each now and then giving a peculiar kind of grunt in 

 great satisfaction! "In bed" among the Esquimaux is to repose 

 in puris naturalibus between reindeer skins with the hair on. Be- 

 ing well enveloped in these heat-retaining skins, they proceeded 

 to eat themselves to sleep ! 



