ut 85 deg.
throughout the winter. Beyond the tiny doorway there was no ventilation
whatsoever, and the heat and stench of the place were beyond
description. At night men, women and children stripped naked, and even
then the perspiration poured off them. The nights we passed here were
indescribable. Suffice it to say that the hours of darkness in the inner
chamber of that _yarat_ were worthy of Dante's Inferno. And the days
were almost as bad, for then the indescribable filth of the dwelling was
more clearly revealed. At the daily meal we reclined on the floor, like
the Romans in "Quo Vadis," by a long wooden platter, and lumps of seal
or walrus meat were thrown at us by the hostess, whose dinner costume
generally consisted of a bead necklace. Rotten goose eggs and stale
fish roe flavoured with seal oil were favoured delicacies, also a kind
of seaweed which is only found in the stomach of the walrus when
captured. Luckily a deer was occasionally brought in from inland, and
Stepan then regaled us with good strong soup followed by the meat which
had made it. Every part of the animal was greedily devoured by the
natives, even the bones being crushed and the marrow extracted from
them, flavoured with seal oil, and eaten raw. Teneskin, however, had
plenty of flour, and this, with desiccated vegetables, was our mainstay
during the greater part of the time. As spring advanced, game was added
to our bill of fare in the shape of wild duck, which flew in enormous
clouds over the settlement. A large lagoon hard by swarmed with them,
and one could always bag a couple at least every morning and evening
without leaving the hut. But a shooting party was usually made up every
day, and we sallied out with the natives, perhaps a score of men and
boys, the former armed with Winchesters and the latter with slings,
which projected a row of five or six balls cut out of walrus teeth. To
shoot a duck on the wing with a bullet is not easy, but the natives
seldom returned empty handed; and many a time I have seen a tiny lad of
ten or twelve years old bring down his bird with a sling at twenty or
thirty yards. Once I saw Yemanko, with the same weapon, put a stone
clean through a biscuit tin at twenty yards range. And one memorable day
(for once only) a regal repast was served of three courses consisting of
reindeer, wild duck, and Harding's plum pudding, which, notwithstanding
its novel experiences, proved delicious. It only had one irreparable
fau