Page:The frozen North; an account of Arctic exploration for use in schools (IA frozennorthaccou00hort).pdf/153

 harness. The Eskimo women chewed and sewed, and everybody was busy and happy.

A large number of Eskimos visited Peary during the winter, some coming from a distance of two hundred miles. When the white men could not pronounce the queer names of the Eskimos, they gave them nicknames. A certain trio were known as the Priest, the Smiler, and the Villain. The Villain was an entirely harmless Eskimo, whose chief failing was his huge appetite.

On Christmas Day, Peary invited his Eskimo friends to dinner. After his own party had partaken of a remarkably good Christmas feast, a fine venison stew was prepared for the Eskimos. Dr. Cook, the ship's surgeon, saw that the guests were clean, to outward appearance at least, and a jolly, happy party they were, sitting down at a civilized dinner table for the first time in their lives.

The Eskimo men wore sealskin coats and bearskin trousers, while the ladies appeared in foxskin jackets and trousers. The Villain sat at the head of the table and served the repast. The Daisy poured tea in Mrs. Peary's place, and conducted herself very gracefully.

Myah, who was called the white man, insisted upon holding both his knife and spoon in his right hand, and then using his fingers to carry the food to his mouth. He was rude enough to stand up and try to harpoon some choice pieces of meat from the stew with his fork. The Villain reproved him so gravely that he stopped harpooning and turned his attention to his own plate. It is barely possible that the Villain was not shocked at the manners of Myah, the white man, but that he wanted the choice piece of meat himself.

After the stew they had coffee, candy, and raisins, and then the Eskimos and the white men played games together.