“MUSIC HATH CHARMS” 
243 
looking daughters who helped wait upon us. The 
aranga was scrupulously clean, with plenty of furs; 
evidently the master of the house was in comfort- 
«/ 
able circumstances. 
When we had finished our tea the old man made 
signs that he wanted to see my chart; clearly 
the men who had gone on ahead of us, the previ¬ 
ous day, had told him about us, and he wanted to 
see for himself. I brought out the chart and 
showed it to him. He examined it carefully and 
made signs about the crushing of the ship. Pres¬ 
ently he went to a box and produced a number of 
magazines, perhaps ten or a dozen in all, most of 
them about two years old. There were copies of 
The World's Work 3 The National Geographic 
Magazine , The Literary Digest and The Illus¬ 
trated London News . The day's march in the 
cold wind, following the long succession of such 
days, with the hours of searching through the 
whirling snowdrift for the right path from Wran¬ 
gell Island and the glare of the sun along the 
tundra, had affected my eyes more and more 
severely. By this time, besides being pretty tired 
and sleepy, I felt more like giving my eyes a rest 
than trying to read. I could hardly make out the 
print and it hurt my eyes a good deal, so I made 
signs to our host and he understood at once and did 
not urge the magazines upon me. 
