Page:The open Polar Sea- a narrative of a voyage of discovery towards the North pole, in the schooner "United States" (IA openpolarseanarr1867haye).pdf/158

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our game; and these things they do well and cheerfully, for out of these pursuits grows an endless opportunity to feed; and as for feeding, I have never seen man nor beast that could rival them, especially Jacob. The stacks of meat that this boy disposes of seem quite fabulous; and it matters not to him whether it is boiled or raw. The cook declares that "he can eat heself in three meals," meaning, of course, his own weight; but I need hardly say that this is an exaggeration. The steward quotes Shakespeare, and thinks that he has hit the boy very hard when he proclaims him to be a savage "of an unbounded stomach." The sailors tease him about his likeness to the animals which he so ruthlessly devours. A pair of antlers are growing from his forehead, rabbit's hair is sprouting on his distended abdomen, and birds' feathers are appearing on his back; his arms and legs are shortening into flippers, his teeth are lengthening into tusks, and they mean to get a cask of walrus blubber out of him before the spring; all of which he takes good-naturedly; but there is a roguish leer in his eye, and if I mistake not he will yet be even with his tormentors. So much for my Esquimau subjects.

October 21st.

I have had another lively race to the glacier, and have had a day of useful work. Hans drove Sonntag, and Jensen was, as usual, my "whip." We took Carl and Peter along to help us with our surveying; and, although there were three persons and some instruments on each sledge, yet this did not much interfere with our progress. We were at the foot of the glacier in forty minutes.

The dogs are getting a little toned down with use,