Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/300

Rh there was no "spare bed," yet I was cordially invited to share theirs. Soon afterward, tired and sore with my long walk of near twenty miles over ice, mountain, and ice again, I retired to rest as best I could. That night my sleep was a sound one, though I was tightly squeezed, the sleepers being numerous, and all in the same bed! There were nine of us, besides the infant at the breast—a boy 3½ feet in height, of portly dimensions!

The order of our sleeping was as follows: Key-e-zhune, the wife of Annawa, lay in her place by the ik-ku-mer or fire-light, with "infant" Koh-uk-jun between herself and her husband; then next to him was the child Oo-suk-je; I lay alongside of the child, Koojesse next to me; then came Esh-ee-loo, with his wife Oonga, all of us facing upward. Then, with feet at our faces, were a young man Innuit, and the little girl Kim-mi-loo, who lives with Annawa.

The space in which the ten were compacted and interwoven was less than as many feet! Of course, I had to sleep in my day-dress, as no spare bed is kept in reserve for company, nor have they a tuktoo covering more than they need for the family; but I got along through the night after a fashion. It was, however, not very pleasant. Whenever I attempted to turn to relieve my aching bones, a little boy by my side roared like a young lion, awaking all the sleepers, and thus a confusion followed that would have deprived me of farther slumber but for my great fatigue. However, the night passed on, and early in the morning I slipped out as a snake from his deciduous epidermis, and prepared myself for a walk.

The igloo was built at the base of a mountain, and up this I ascended until, reaching its summit, I had a good view of the region around me. I was now where I had long hoped to be. Below, and encircling the island, was a field of ice, making an excellent footway for travel. To the south and the west were the open waters of Frobisher Bay, its surface dotted over with broken ice, which was quietly floating about. This however, just then, was vexatious, as it prevented me from making my intended sledge-journey to the westward.