Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/211

190 was prettily ornamented (?) with federal coin of the United States—old copper cents—eight in number, arranged in rows, and fixed as pendents to the tail. On another occasion, when Kokerzhun came on board with her husband, she had on a beautiful tuktoo (reindeer) fur dress, having a skirt standing out hoop fashion! The variety of colours of the tuktoo was prettily arranged, and so well did she appear, that it was said by some of us that she would pass at home for a "Broadway belle." So excellent were the dresses made for me by these Innuit women, that I did not hesitate paying tolerably "liberal" for them, particularly as they were rather scarce. I obtained a native jacket for a knife, two small skins for another knife and some powder, and a good deerskin for more powder, buck-shot, and caps. Many of the natives had guns, obtained from the whalers of Northumberland Inlet, either by barter or as returns for services rendered. I could not, at that time, get all I desired in the way of Innuit apparel, though it was useless to attempt travelling in any other costume, as nothing but that could withstand the cold; but from my first arrival I had been obtaining several articles, and thus I was now tolerably well supplied.

About this time, and toward the end of November, I was much astonished at the changes in the temperature. On the 19th the thermometer, on this glorious fair and calm morning, was — 20°, barometer 30.175. Cold indeed; by thermometer, 52° below the freezing point. Yet so calm was the weather, that to my person it seemed no colder than at the commencement of the season, when the thermometer indicated 32° above 0. But let a smart breeze spring up coming from the N.W. then how like hot iron it will burn! The weather was such that, unless we soon had snow, the ice would freeze thick and solid throughout the regions. Snow upon the ice serves to keep it warm, the same as snow on the ground in the Northern States of America. In my journal at this date I find as follows: "I have just been out walking and running, exposing myself, my face and