CHAPTER VIII 
IN CAMP AT COLUMBIA — ^LITERARY IGLOOS 
THE MAGNIFICENT DESOLATION OF 
THE ARCTIC 
OUR heavy furs had been made by the 
Esquimo women on board the ship and 
had been thoroughly aired and carefully 
packed on the sledges. We were to discard 
our old clothes before leaving the land and 
endeavor to be in the cleanest condition pos- 
sible while contending with the ice, for we 
knew that we would get dirty enough without 
having the discomfort of vermin added. It 
is easy to become vermin-infested, and when 
all forms of life but man and dog seem to 
have disappeared, the bedbug still remains. 
Each person had taken a good hot bath with 
plenty of soap and water before we left the 
ship, and we had given each other what we 
called a "prize-fighter's hair-cut." We ran 
the clippers from forehead back, all over the 
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