Children of the Arctic

IX

After the stone igloos had all been built, the men built snow huts in which their dogs could find shelter from the fierce north winds, for, except when the wind blew, the Eskimo dog would rather curl up on the snow than be housed.

The sledges and harnesses were put on top of these huts, where the dogs could not reach them. When they get loose the Eskimo dogs chew up everything they can get hold of, no matter how well fed they may be.

The Eskimos on shore made quite a little settlement, and their visits to the ship made things lively on board.

73

“She dressed exactly as the Eskimos did”

74AH-NI-GHI´-TO now spoke the Eskimo language perfectly, and every native was her friend. She dressed exactly as they did, except that she wore a woollen union suit instead of the bird-skin shirt. Often her mother looked for her several minutes before noticing that she was right alongside the ship with her Eskimo companions. But when her back was turned it was not an easy matter to know the little white girl among the fur-clad children.

“The Eskimo dog chews up everything”

In February her mother sent letters for the dear ones at home, by the Eskimos, to a place 75where the whaling ships would stop on their way to catch the big black whales. Then, if the old “Windward” should be held by the ice until it was too late to return home the coming summer, the grandmothers and uncles and aunt would know that all were well, and did not return because the ship could not get out of the ice.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO sent this letter home:

My dear Grossy and Tante and Uncle,—I am afraid you will be worried not to hear from me for so long a time, so I take this first chance to write this letter to you. I will come to see you soon, I hope. I want to see you all very much. I play on the ice every day and have a fine time with Billy and the Eskimo children. We have been in the ice for ever so many days. We have had a good time most always, but I want to see you all.

I will tell you how I spent my Christmas. A week before, we began to get ready for the holidays. Mother baked a whole stack of raisin loaves and cut fifteen stockings out of some canopy lace, and I worked them round with red worsted. These we filled with dates, peanuts, chocolates, home-made taffy, mixed candy, a silver dollar, popcorn, prunes, and oranges.

76At eight o’clock on Christmas eve I went down into the forecastle with Charley and gave each man half a loaf of raisin cake, and a big pot of chocolate for all. They cheered and clapped and I left them to enjoy their feast.

I played parchesi with mother and the Captain until ten o’clock, then I hung up my stocking and went to bed.

In the morning it was full. I jumped out of bed and found in it several pieces of money, two pieces of pink ribbon, a book, a paper doll and her dresses, and a box of chocolates. I was delighted, and could only wish father and Grossy and tante and uncle were here to see how happy I am.

While on deck a little later, playing with the Eskimo children and Billy, Maksangwah handed me a lovely card and a box of beads from Mr. Warmbath.

About two P. M. mother called to me that it was time to invite all hands down into the cabin to get their Christmas stockings.

When we all came down, there, in the middle of the table blazed a beautiful Christmas tree, which Mr. Warmbath had made for me as a surprise. It looked as if it had just been cut in the woods, and yet he made every bit of it. I will tell you how.

First he made a skeleton tree, using a broomstick for the trunk and making the branches out of heavy wire; then he covered the wire with softened wax, until some of the branches were one half an inch thick and others not so big. Some wax was also put on the broomstick, 77and when trunk and branches were entirely covered with wax, they were all thickly sprinkled with coffee-grounds, well pressed into the wax. This made them look just like the branches of a pine tree without its needles. Next he took some hay and laid it out straight on a box and painted it green. When the paint was dry he cut it into pieces about as long as pine needles and with melted wax stuck them all over the branches of the tree. It looked so real that I thought I could smell the lovely pine woods at home.

All around the tree mother had put the stockings. It was a fine sight.

The tree was trimmed in chains made of popcorn, and some of tin-foil, cornucopias, “silver dollars,” and two dozen candles.

The Eskimos were very sober at first because they thought we were worshipping it, but when they saw us laughing and I gave each a stocking, they too shouted and laughed and said “peuk! peuk!” many times. Mother gave them cake and coffee, and I tried to tell them that trees like this grew in the ground where the white man lived; but this they did not believe, and said, “Oh, you can’t fool us, we saw Mr. Warmbath make this one.”

For our Christmas dinner we had roast beef (canned), stewed tomatoes (canned), dandelion greens and corn (canned), and baked beans. Then plum pudding with sauce.

78After dinner we had songs and games, and for a little while I quite forgot that I was thousands of miles away from home and hundreds of miles from any other white people. Mother and I had been invited to take tea with Captain Sam in the forward saloon, and we spent a pleasant evening. I wondered if father had a good Christmas and if he was coming to us soon. This is the first real Christmas tree celebration the natives have ever seen, and I am sure they will never forget it.

So you see I had a good time, only I wanted you all to be with me too. I send you much love and many, many kisses.

X

“A tiny baby in the hood”

The holidays over, everything went on as usual. AH-NI-GHI´-TO took walks with her mother and some of the Eskimos nearly every day. Once in climbing a steep slope of hard snow AH-NI-GHI´-TO began to slip and could not stop herself. It was very far to the bottom and she was badly frightened, but one of the Eskimo boys ran to her, and digging his feet into the hard snow far enough to catch his heels and keep himself steady, he held on to her until she too had made a place in the snow for her heels. Then together they carefully picked their way off the slippery slope to where the snow was soft and their feet sank into it.

“Such little flat noses”

Another time they walked farther than they intended, and the moon went behind the clouds, 80leaving it quite dark. In taking a short cut they came to a slope which, in the dim light, looked as if it were not very steep, and they decided to sit down and slide; but no sooner was AH-NI-GHI´-TO seated than away she shot out of sight, the others following her so quickly that no one was able to give the warning. It was a good thing that there was a bed of soft snow at the bottom, into which the youngsters tumbled.

There was a little daylight every day after January 15th, yet the sun did not really shine on the “Windward” until February 21st.

The days kept getting longer and longer; that is, the sun rose earlier and set later each day until on March 21st, Spring’s opening, he shone from 6 o’clock in the morning until 6 o’clock in the evening and there was daylight all night long. Strange to say, it was now very much colder than it had been while it was dark. 81But no one minded the cold as long as the sun shone.

The Eskimos from across Smith Sound came oftener to visit the ship, and every time they brought AH-NI-GHI´-TO either fur mittens or stockings or kamiks; and what pleased her most, numbers of children came with them. She wrote:

“I shall get Billy to wash them”

“When Achatinǵwah and I came in from coasting to-day, we found eight sledges with Eskimos had come over from Etah, and oh, there are so many children I know we are going to have a good time.

“Three of the women have tiny babies in their hoods. One of them was brought to the mother just before she started for the ship. It is much uglier than the others. Its head wobbles back and forth against its mother’s bare shoulder. She carries it all naked, except for a little tight fur cap and a short fox-skin shirt, in a hood on her back right next her bare skin, which helps keep it warm. Its eyes are never open, and it makes me think of a young kitten.

“The other two must be older, for they can hold up their heads, and they have their eyes open all the time when they are awake.

82“When the mothers want to feed them they take the little naked things out of the hoods, without covering them—right out on deck in the cold, and the babies don’t seem to mind it at all. Then there are some little boys. I shall get Billy to wash them to-morrow so I can play with them.

“They all have black hair and big black eyes and white teeth and such little flat noses, and they wear the funniest little short trousers made of bear-skin, with tiny fur-lined boots and big fox-skin coats. I could laugh every time I look at them.

“Funny little bear-skin trousers”

“Achatinǵwah told me all about the sun and moon to-day. Ever so many years ago, longer than the oldest Eskimos can remember, a girl ran out of an igloo with a piece of lighted moss in her hand. Her brother ran after her with a larger piece of moss. They ran so long they ran right up into the sky, where the girl became the moon and her brother the sun. Isn’t it funny? We say there is a man in the moon; the Eskimos think it is a girl.”

XI

March went and April came, with “April Fool’s Day” and Easter, of which, of course, AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S Eskimo friends knew nothing.

During April there were many pleasant days, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother were out most of the time.

The Eskimos crossed Smith Sound to the open water off the Greenland shore, where the walrus were plentiful and where most of the tribe gather every spring for the hunt. Each family builds a snow igloo, and there they stay and hunt and feast until the breaking up of the ice warns them that if they wish to return to their settlement before the next autumn they must move on.

84Only one family and an orphan boy remained with the ship. This boy was the son of Magipsu, the seamstress who sewed for AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother the first time she came to the Snowland, and whom she found dying two years later.

This poor little fellow had also lost his father since then and was all alone. No one in particular took care of him, but if he needed clothing the family who could best spare it gave it to him, and his food he got wherever he happened to be.

Koodluk´too, or “Good luck to you” as Charley called him, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO became great friends, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S mother said he could stay on the ship and she would take care of him as long as she remained in the Snowland.

This gave AH-NI-GHI´-TO a constant companion and guide; for he knew the feeding places of the hare and the fox, and the nesting places of the Eider duck, the Brant Goose, and other birds whose eggs would be a very welcome change on the bill of fare.

85Though young, Koodluk’too, like all the Eskimo boys, could drive dogs, and he and AH-NI-GHI´-TO had frequent rides drawn by six or eight dogs that looked for all the world like wolves. She wrote:

“The dogs look very pretty going along”

A beautiful day, and I have had such fun. Koodluk’too took me out sledge-riding way round Elephant Head and back. The dogs were not used to pulling together, so that we did not always go where we wanted to.

“As the dogs are guided by the whip and not with reins like our horses, it kept poor Koodluk’too’s arm going all the time, and he got so excited when they would not obey him that he cut me over the head and round the neck as he swung the whip over his shoulder. But my fur hood is so thick that it did not hurt me at all. It made him feel badly because he says the men don’t do that and he ought to know better.

86“I thought he would surely be hoarse, for he kept shouting to the dogs all the time.

“Once when we crossed a fox’s track on the ice the dogs started off in a gallop to follow it, and the only way Koodluk’too could stop them was to steer the sledge up against a big lump of solid ice. It gave me a fearful bump and would have thrown me off if he had not warned me to hold tight.

“The dogs look very pretty when they are going along. Each one has his bushy tail laid up on his back like a feather duster.

“It is fine sport to skim over the smooth ice, but I don’t believe I should like to ride all day long.”

“Sinful”

Before leaving, one of the Eskimo men gave AH-NI-GHI´-TO a puppy with which she and Koodluk’too had great sport. She was reddish-brown in colour and AH-NI-GHI´-TO named her “Cinnamon,” but called her “Cin” for short. She was full of mischief and was known to the sailors as “Sinful.”

87On May 5th AH-NI-GHI´-TO coaxed her mother to have cake baked, so that she could feast her friends the next day, it being her father’s birthday. All day she was busy with Charley getting her feast ready, and when night came she was glad to climb into her bunk and go to sleep. She did not dream that something great would happen before breakfast the next day.

The next evening she wrote in her diary:

“May 6. It seemed as though I had only just closed my eyes when I was awakened by Mother, who was sitting up in bed calling, ‘Charley, Charley, unlock the cabin door quickly, Mr. Peary has come.’ At first I thought she was dreaming, but a second later I heard some one rattling at the cabin door, while Charley, half asleep, was trying to unlock it. Then a great giant all dressed in bear and deer skins was coming toward the bed asking for his baby, and here was Father really and truly, safe and well, and on his birthday too; glory, glory, now we could really celebrate, and Mother knew his step even when she was asleep. Dear old Dad, he looks the same. Of course we got right up and dressed, while Father took his bath, and at five o’clock in the morning our whole family sat down to breakfast together, for the first time in three years. The day has been a holiday for every one on board.”

XII

After AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father returned, the time fairly flew.

Ahnǵoodloo and Billy Bah were among the Eskimos who returned with AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father, and they now joined AH-NI-GHI´-TO and Koodluk´too in their play.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father said he would not return home this summer, but would remain another year and once more try to reach the North Pole.

During all the long winter months, while AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S home had been on the “Windward,” the old ship had been as steady as a house on shore, for she was held firmly by the ice and could not move. But on June 7th, while AH-NI-GHI´-TO was at dinner with her parents, they were surprised to hear a loud creaking noise and at the same time feel the ship quiver and then roll slightly from side to side.

89

“A Narwhal”

“We are free,” said AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father; “the old ‘Windward’ has broken out of her winter berth and longs to be off again.” Everybody rushed on deck, and surely enough the old ship was afloat once more.

But the ice had only melted away from her sides, leaving her without a support. Nowhere else did it seem inclined to break away, so that while the “Windward” was afloat she was still a prisoner in the ice.

90By the middle of June the sea ice was covered with pools of water, and it was no easy task to get ashore from the ship without getting the feet wet. Snow buntings (our snowbirds) were flitting about the rocks, and small tufts of green grass were to be seen here and there.

The Eskimos harpooned some narwhal out at the edge of the ice, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO is perhaps the only little white girl who ever saw these strange Arctic sea animals, with their long white ivory horns and huge tails.

It was now decided to help free the ship by having the men saw a road through the ice to the open water beyond.

Saws eight and ten feet long were used, and for weeks the sawing went on.

Sometimes a bottle filled with gunpowder was let down under the ice through a hole that had been drilled, and the long fuse that had been fastened to it was lighted. When the fire reached the powder it exploded; but although it cracked the ice for a little distance, very little was broken off.

91

“AHNG´OODLOO and a Narwhal Head with its Long White Ivory Horn”

During this time AH-NI-GHI´-TO was over on the island with Koodluk´too and Billy Bah 92every day, gathering eggs, which were plentiful now.

“The huge Tail of a Narwhal”

The ducks lay their eggs on the ledges of the rocks, in nests made of the down which they pluck from their breasts.

As hundreds of the birds had their nests on this island, it was not necessary to take the eggs from the same nest twice, and this left enough eggs for the birds to breed.

One day a great windstorm swept down from 93the north and broke off all the ice which had been cracked by the blasting and carried it out of the harbour. Only a small pan of one-year-old ice was left between the ship and the open water.

The fires were started under the boiler, and with the help of the saws and the steam, the ship soon pushed out the remaining ice, and on July 3rd, with every living creature in the settlement on board (not forgetting about seventy-five dogs), the “Windward” steamed out of the little harbour where she had been lying for ten months, and reached Littleton Island on the opposite shore that evening.

The next day was Fourth of July, and it was decided to have a holiday.

The ship was dressed in her flags, and all who wanted to go went shooting birds or hunting walrus.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO did neither of these things, but she had a happy day and in her diary tells about it:

“July 4, 1901.—A beautiful day. Warm, bright, and sunshiny. The Eskimo men and most of the sailors 94went out after breakfast to see what they could find, and came in at four o’clock with one hundred and twenty-five ducks, three barrels of eggs, and two walrus. The eggs will be packed away for father’s use in the fall. Mother, father, Percy, and I have been ashore gathering flowers and playing tag and having a fine old-time. Dinner at five o’clock, and then I heard mother and father planning to walk across the country to Etah while Captain Sam took the ‘Windward’ around there. I coaxed them to let me go with them. Mother said I could not walk it because there would be so much climbing to do, but father said, ‘Let her try it. I believe she can do it.’ At half-past seven father had two of the sailors put us ashore and with our kapetahs (fox-skin coats) over our arms we started off. Over the rocks we went—up one side, down the other side, of the cliffs. In some places my feet went into the wet moss above my ankles. The steep, hard snowbanks gave me lots of tumbles. In one place we had to climb around the high steep walls of a cliff with the icy water dashing against them twelve feet below. Father said it was about twelve feet, but I thought it was twenty-five. If I had fallen I should have had the coldest bath I ever had. We had to wade through some of the shallow brooks, and they were cold enough for me. I was very tired, but I had made up my mind not to say a word about it. It took us two hours, and father said we had walked about six miles; but we beat the ‘Windward,’ for when we got to the Igloos at Etah, she was just coming 95round the point, and that pleased me, for now I could tease Captain Sam. As soon as the ‘Windward’ got in, mother and I went on board, and mother rubbed me down, gave me a cup of cocoa, and put me to bed, too tired to write up my diary; but I wrote it up this morning so the home folks will know what I did on the glorious Fourth.”

XIII

From Etah the “Windward” steamed to Northumberland Island, where the Eskimo women, children (except Koodluk´too), and dogs, with a few of the old men, were landed with their tents and enough food to last them a few weeks.

The ship with the rest on board started for a walrus hunt.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father wanted to get packed away as much meat as possible, with which to feed his natives and dogs during the coming winter. AH-NI-GHI´-TO herself tells how these huge animals were hunted.

“Dead Walrus on Ice Cake”

“For the last ten days we have been hunting walrus. The walrus is a large animal which lives in the water, but like the whale 97it cannot breathe under water. It comes to the surface and fills its lungs with air by taking deep breaths, then it closes its nose tight and goes under, where it can stay many minutes without breathing.

“Hoisting a Walrus on Board”

“They love to crawl upon the pans of ice when the sun shines, warming themselves and sleeping for hours at a time. It is then the hunters go after them. The walrus are hunted with both gun and harpoon.

98

“AH-NI-GHI´-TO and Billy standing on the dead Walrus”

“Cutting up Walrus on the Ice”

“Father sends out each boat with one or two white men and their rifles, and four Eskimos with harpoons and floats. They row toward the pan of ice where the walrus are asleep, coming up to them from the side where the wind blows from the walrus to the boat. If they came from the other side the walrus would smell them even in their sleep. When the boat is close enough each Eskimo throws his harpoon at a walrus, and all the walrus slide off the ice into the water. Those struck by the natives have the harpoon head fastened in their skin with a line to it. The other end of the line is fastened to a float. Now the boat follows them, and every time the walrus comes up to breathe one of the men with the rifles tries to shoot him. They are very hard to kill because the hide is so thick and tough and the fat is so thick under it. Sometimes if the walrus are full grown they get mad and make for the boat, which they try to upset with their ivory tusks. Even if they don’t upset the boat they often put their tusks right through it, and frighten the Eskimos very much; and I guess the white men are scared too, only they won’t say so. After a walrus is killed the float is left fastened to him and we come along in the ship and hoist him on board. He is not a pretty animal but very large, and the meat is the best food for the dogs. The walrus weighs more than a thousand pounds, but his ears are tiny holes in his head, so small I can just put my finger into one. But his mustache is terrible. I am glad father’s is not 99like it. The bristles are as big around as one of mother’s knitting needles, but only as long as my finger, and the ends are very sharp. I wonder if Mrs. Walrus kisses him sometimes. Mother said she thought not. After father gets about twenty-five walrus on board we steam alongside of some large ice floe and all the animals are put on the ice and cut up. This saves the mess on deck. The meat and skin and blubber are kept separate, and packed away for dog food in the winter when everything is frozen. When father has seventy-five walrus cut up he says, ‘We will go back to Cape Sabine, if we can, and land the meat and start all over again.’ I hope we won’t get caught in the ice if we go.”

About the middle of July there were nearly ten thousand pounds of clear meat on board, and as the weather was fine it was thought best 100to take the “Windward” back to her winter home and there land the meat.

This was done without meeting any ice; but after reaching the little harbour the wind blew a gale for several hours.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO was on shore during this time and wrote about it in her diary.

“July 16.—Fine day. Wind blowing hard in the evening. After dinner mother and father and I went ashore, and I pinned some more pictures on the walls of father’s room and his dining-room. When I got through we went to the lake, where I spent some time sailing my boats and digging in the water among the rocks. About five p. m. my feet were very wet and we started for the ship. We saw her driving away from the shore. The wind was blowing a gale so that we could hardly stand up against it. But the ship sailed off out of sight. We waited and ‘shivered our timbers,’ but she did not come back, so we went to father’s house and a fire was made at once. Mother took off my wet kamiks and stockings and I put on a pair of father’s socks. We had supper in regular picnic style. A box on father’s trunk was our table, a paper on it was our cloth, beans and corn in the can, coffee we drank out of beer-mugs, and biscuit galore made our hearty supper.

101“We were just beginning to plan how we should spend the night, when ‘hoot’ went a whistle, and looking out of the window we saw the old ship in the harbour. The wind was not blowing so hard now, so I put on my kamiks and we went aboard. Here we learned that the ‘Windward’ had actually been blown from her fastenings, and the Captain had to steam out to keep her from going on the rocks.

“To-night I feel as if I had been on a picnic.

“We leave here in a few minutes for Etah, and to-morrow I am going to have a day with father and mother among the bird cliffs near Etah.”

Ah’-wik-so-ah (The Walrus)

“I wonder if Mrs. Walrus kisses him sometimes”

XIV

“July 17.—Fine day with a little wind. Arrived at Etah this morning. After dinner I started ashore for the Eskimo tents with mother and father. We had not gone far when we were overtaken by one of father’s Eskimos with sledge and dogs. We all hopped on, and away we dashed, over the ice and through the pools of water until we came around the corner of the cliffs. Here we saw hundreds of little birds called ‘Little Auks’ perched on the rocks. Father said if we could get ashore we might find some eggs, as these birds lay their eggs among the loose rocks, without making a nest. Each bird lays one egg only. After quite a little trouble we reached the rocks and began to look for eggs. I found the first one. After finding a few more we went on to the tents. At them we found that all the men had gone out to catch ‘Little Auks,’ so we went to the bird place. Here the rocks were actually covered with the birds. How they chattered! They would fly so close over our heads that we could see into their little black eyes. One bird was marked exactly like the others. They have black heads, necks, backs, and tails. Their breasts are white. Their wings are black with a 103few white feathers in them. They have black feet and legs. The men hide among the rocks. They have a net on the end of a long pole. They take hold of the end of the pole and throw the net back and forth as the birds fly to and from the rocks. In this way the old men who cannot hunt the walrus or the bear support themselves and their families. The women and children help. Every Eskimo wears a shirt made of these skins, and it takes from seventy-five to one hundred for each shirt. We found a few more eggs here.

“Tupics of the Eskimos”

104

Ahng-o-do-gip'-su and his wife In'-a-loo Eskimo couple at Etah

“On our way down to the shore I picked many kinds of flowers. When we reached the ice we saw our team of dogs running away with our sledge. But an Eskimo who was just starting for the ship kindly took me on his sledge. The Eskimos can hop off and on the sledge while the dogs are running. I tried to do it, but once I fell in the ice-cold water and got very wet, and that was enough for me.”

Another trip was made to the old winter home late in July and more meat landed.

August 1st the “Windward” anchored off Etah again, and while awaiting the coming of the ship from home AH-NI-GHI´-TO learned to paddle about in an Eskimo kayak.

105Sunday, August 5th, while AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her parents were below in the cabin they heard the Eskimos shouting, “Oomiaksoah!” “Oomiaksoah!” and hurrying on deck they saw a ship just rounding the point.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO was much excited because she thought she saw her uncle on board, but as the new ship drew nearer she found it was a stranger.

The name of the ship was the “Erik” and she brought many letters from home to AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her father and mother.

In one letter was the sad tidings that AH-NI-GHI´-TO would never see one of her grandmothers again. This grieved her very much, and she wanted to go home at once for fear others would be gone before she could get there.

The “Erik” was a much larger and stronger ship than the “Windward,” and AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father said that the “Windward” should wait here while the “Erik” took him with his party across the now ice-filled Smith Sound and landed him at his winter house.

106

“To paddle about in an Eskimo Kayak”

AH-NI-GHI´-TO, her mother, and Percy went on board the “Erik” together with her father and his party, that they might be with him as long as possible.

Charley, the steward, was going to stay and cook, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO told him to be sure and take care of her father.

After fighting with the ice for four days the “Erik” was still twenty miles south of Cape 107Sabine, and there seemed little chance of getting any nearer.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father then said all his party and dogs and meat, with some provisions, should be landed here, and he would work his way to his house later in the season.

Two nights before, the old “Erik” had a narrow escape from being crushed between a heavy floe and the straight, hard walls of a glacier face, against which the ice had driven her.

August 29th, AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother said good-bye to “dear old dad” and to Charley, promising to come up on the ship next summer, and father in turn promised that he would return home with them.

The home voyage on the “Erik” was made in two weeks, landing AH-NI-GHI´-TO in Sydney the day after her eighth birthday, September 13th, in time to catch the only train of the day for home.

Two days later she was in the home of her grandmother, but as that dear one had been called to another home, AH-NI-GHI´-TO did 108not care to stay long, and the next day she and her mother went on to New York where uncle was waiting for them.

“Country of the Iceberg and the Midnight Sun”

With him they left for Grossy’s home in Washington, where they arrived late at night and found every one asleep. It did not take long to rouse the household, and there was great rejoicing, for they had not seen their “Snowbaby” for fifteen months, and she had so much to tell that it seemed as if no one would go to bed that night.

109Every one felt very sorry that AH-NI-GHI´-TO did not bring her father home with her, but they were glad that she left him well, and that he had promised to come home next year.

AH-NI-GHI´-TO went to school at once and found to her delight that, because she had played at school with mother during the past winter, she was now able to take her place with her little classmates who had been going to school all the time she was in the Snowland.

When July came, AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother once more boarded the “Windward,” with good old Captain Sam in command, and sailed for the country of the iceberg and the midnight sun again.

When AH-NI-GHI´-TO returned from this voyage the next September she was nine years old, and instead of sending her diary to her Grossy, who was still in Europe, she tried to write the story of her summer in the Snowland in a long letter to her.

XV

My dear Grossy,—Here we are back again, and father is with us. But I will begin at the beginning of my trip and tell you all about it.

July 21st mother and I reached Sydney, and the next day at eight o’clock in the evening we steamed away on the “Windward.” A new house had been put on the ship, and we had a suite of rooms in it which made it very nice and comfortable.

I could run on deck any time I liked, without being afraid of being thrown downstairs, because there were no stairs. Mother let me wear boys’ clothes, and I liked it ever so much.

Captain Sam was just as kind to me as last year, and I had a fine time. We made no stops on the way, but just cut a bee line for father’s house. Early on the morning of August 5th we were so near to Cape Sabine, where father’s house is, that we could see the people running about on the rocks, but we could not tell whether they were Eskimos or whites. Oh, but I was excited.

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“Cin” and her Pups

At one time I thought I saw father, then I thought I didn’t, and poor mother just stood and looked through the glasses and said nothing except, “If I see father I will tell you.” Well, as we got nearer we could make out Matt, then Charley, then some of the Eskimos, but not until we were almost at the landing did we see father. There he stood, twice as tall as any one else, and we had not seen him because he had on light kamiks, white bear-skin trousers, and gray shirt, and he looked the same colour as the rocks behind him.

I thought we would never land, but at last, father swung himself on board, and I was in dear old dad’s arms, hugged up tight. Of course now I was anxious to go ashore and see Charley and Matt and Koodluk´too and “Cin,” my dog that I left in Koodluk´too’s care. “Billy Bah” was there, too, father said, and they were all waiting to see me. We all went ashore after father had said “How do” to every one on board. We found father’s house as neat and tidy as possible, and mother teased Charley, saying she knew he had been “house cleaning” 112ever since he saw the smoke from the “Windward;” but he said he kept it this way all the time. He then said, “You come with me, Miss, and I’ll show you how I’ve been thinking about you.” The first place he took me was on top of the house, and here in a large box with wire netting across one end he had four of the dearest bunnies I ever saw.

“The Woolliest Black Calf”

Koodluk´too

They were gray on their backs, but snow-white on the breast and head, and Charley said when they were grown they would be white all over; that when Koodluk´too found them for me, they were no longer than 113kittens, and as gray as rats, but as they grow older they shed the gray coat and become real white. And you must know they are mine, and Charley has taken care of them for me. All this time Koodluk´too, who was standing by, was asking me every minute to come with him; he wanted to show me something.

After feeding the rabbits some willow, which they are very fond of, I went with him, and what do you think he showed me? A pair of the loveliest pups, and my own old “Cin” is the mother of them. “Cin” knew me too; she licked my hands and face and was as glad to see me as I was to see her and her dear babies.

Charley, “Daisy” the Musk-calf and AH-NI-GHI´-TO at Etah

I could have stayed with them all day, but Charley called, “Come on now; there’s more yet to be seen.” Together we went to a funny-looking place, built up of boxes and wires, and in it was the woolliest black calf, with long hair over its forehead and hanging over its eyes. When Charley said, “Come here, Daisy,” it ran to him and pushed against him until I thought it was butting him, but he said, “She just wants 114her bottle;” and he told Koodluk’too to get the bottle out of the house. When Koodluk’too came back with it the calf acted just like Mrs. S’s baby when he is hungry and his mother shows him the bottle. It was too cute for anything.

Charley told me that Daisy too was mine, and he hoped I would be good to her, for she had been his bottle baby for over two months. Some of the Eskimos brought her back from a musk-ox hunt where her mother had been killed. Charley said I might feed her when she came aboard, and then she would follow me just as she did him. I am glad she hasn’t such horns as the big Musk-oxen.

Many of the Eskimos had died since we left them last year, and all that stayed with father were in a hurry to get over to the Greenland settlements and see their friends. Before I had half time enough to visit all our old-time play-houses with Koodluk´too and “Billy Bah,” father had everything on board and was ready to be off. I hated to say good-bye to this place because I had had some very good times here and would never see it again.

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“Gave the Eskimos Presents”

First we stopped at Etah, where Koodluk´too and “Billy Bah” and I went ashore and gathered bags full of grass for Daisy and arms full of willow for the bunnies, while the Eskimo men were out after birds.

After dinner Charley said he would help me take Daisy ashore where she could crop the grass and have a run, for she was not very fond of being penned upon the ship. You should have seen her look round for Charley and bellow when he hid behind the rocks.

After leaving Etah we visited all the places where Eskimos were living, and father gave them presents and said good-bye to them.

The natives who had been with father, about fifty of them, said they wanted to live in Academy Bay at a place called Kang-erd-luk´-soah, so the “Windward” steamed there and landed them with their belongings. Most of them had no seal-skin tupics (tents), and these father gave tents of canvas.

While they were putting them up Charley got one of father’s tents and put it up too, and we used to go ashore with Daisy and get our lunch and stay all day, letting her browse and scamper about.

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“Listening to the Phonograph”

When the tents were all up father gave the natives food enough to last them through the winter except meat. He then told the men that they should come aboard the “Windward,” and he would hunt walrus with them until they had enough for themselves and their dogs for the winter.

While we were on this hunt, one evening we were going to anchor for a sleep (because you know there was no night; the sun shone bright all the time).

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“The babies are not so pretty”

Father and Captain Sam had both come in off the deck when the old ship went “bumpty bump.” We had run aground. Such a time as we had trying to get the “Windward” afloat! She slid away over on one side and everything in the cabin tipped over, and we did not get away until the next evening. I was scared. I thought we should have to stay here all winter.

After we had a hundred or more walrus we steamed back to Kang-erd-luk´-soah and put them ashore. Then father sent some of the natives to hunt deer, so we would have fresh meat on our home trip. The three days they were gone I just lived on shore with my calf. Of course I did not forget to feed my pups and the bunnies too.

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“The women wear dirty skirts over their fur trousers”

“Steady”

I gave “Cin” to Koodluk´too because mother said I had no place to keep her at home. The calf, and the bunnies, and the pups, father says will be kept in the New York Zoological Garden. One day father had the Eskimo women sing into the phonograph, and then made the phonograph sing their song back at them. You ought to have heard them laugh.

“Port”

“Billy Bah” and Ahng´oodloo wanted to come home with me, but mother would not let them. Ahng´oodloo is very fond of father, and 119when he found he could not go back with us he took “Billy Bah” up on the mountain so they would not have to say good-bye. All the natives felt sad to have father leave them, but after we had all the venison we needed we steamed away. Poor old Koodluk´too felt very badly, and so did I.

I was kept busy caring for my pets on the way home, and one morning I found one of my bunnies dead. He had been killed by one of the others in a fight. They are all white as snow and perfect beauties.

“Hard Over”

We stopped among the west side Eskimos 120at a whaling station. I didn’t like the looks of these natives at all. I am sure they are not as kind as father’s people. The babies are not nearly as pretty. Their dress looks different too. They have funny long tails to their coats, and the women wear dirty calico skirts over their fur trousers.

The carpenter had to make Daisy’s pen higher before we reached Sydney because she had grown so much. The puppies too have grown and are as playful as kittens. But you must hurry home and see them yourself. I have much more to tell you, but can’t think of it now.

P. S. Oh, I forgot to tell you, Captain Sam taught me how to turn the wheel, and let me steer the “Windward.” I can “Steady” and “Port” and “Hard Over” just like the sailors.

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES