Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/229

208 I should mention that every article on the sledge is passed in through an opening at the back of the igloo, for the purpose of convenience. When all is thus within, then this opening is closed, and a proper entrance made on the side opposite the beds. The dogs are left outside. The drying of whatever has been worn during the day, or whatever has become wet with perspiration, falls to the lot of the "igloo wife." She places the things on the in-ne-tin (a net over the fire-lamp), and through the night attends to the turning of them, as occasion requires. Her other duties consist in the repairing of such clothing as may be needed. Nothing is allowed to go one day without repair. Everything, where care is required, even to pipes and tobacco, is placed in the igloo wife's hands—in this case, Tookoolito's. These matters I particularly noticed on the occasion of my first night spent in an arctic igloo. Presently our evening meal was ready. It consisted of Cincinnati crackling soup, a small piece of raw salt pork for each of us, half a biscuit, and coffee. Tookoolito proved herself an excellent cook; and I soon felt convinced that no party should think of travelling in these regions without an Innuit man and his wife, for the latter, above everything, is the "all in all," or at least the "better half." After supper, myself and the two male Esquimaux had each a pipe, and then turned in, my position being between the hot-blooded Innuits Ebierbing and Koodloo.

I slept as well as I would ever wish, and on the following morning, about nine o'clock, after breakfast and repacking the sledge, we again started. Our proper course was due north, but, owing to hummocky ice, we could not follow it. In truth, sometimes we were obliged to make a retrograde movement to get out of "a fix" that we were occasionally in among icebergs and hummocks. Owing to this, we made but five miles direct toward our destination during the day. It had been expected that we could reach Cornelius Grinnell Bay in one day from the vessel, but too many obstacles existed to allow it, and thus a second night came upon us