Evening star., 1922-10-22

certainly be less than two pounds per
capita per year
Knowing that the Eskimos met with
| on September l at Cape Dorchester
intended to visit the H. B. c. station
at Cape Dorset very soon, Small,
Broomfield and I rowed to the large
island off the mouth of the harbor,
which 1 subsequently named White
Island, after my good friend and COL
lege classmate. Alfred White of Bos-
ton, and there erected a boats mast
as flag pole. from the top Of which
futtered pillow slip from one of our
! bunks. This would indicate to them
as they came down the coast that we
had finally decided to winter in the
inlet nearby. to which had given the
name Bowdoin harbor.
The value of the Eskimo to the
white men wintering in the north can
not be overestimated His language. his
mode Of living. his customs. his hunting
equipment, his dog team. his primi-
tiveness. are all of absorbing interest
and continual source of enjoyment.
His unfailing good humor is his
/ marked characteristic, and is largely
responsible for the absence of ennui
| and inconsistencies among the person
mel of an expedition. Irrespective of
! the sewing done by the women, in
dispensable in the making Of our skin
clothes and sealskin boots, the man
ual labor of the men. the advantages
of their dog teams in travelling. their
company alone justifies the additional
expenditure incurred for their sup
port.
! On the 18th We heard two shots at
the mouth of the harbor which we
answered Immediately. A few min
| utes later four ESkimos were seen
outlined against the sky on the crest
| of hill to the west of our anchorage
I padded over from the Bowdoin in
our sixteen-foot canoe and met them
on the shore, hot and tired from their
exertions in running over the hill
from their boat, which they had left
in small blight at the entrance of
the harbor upon deserving our signal.
| They informed me that their wives
and children were in the boat, and
would come in later when the tide
turned. They gladly consented to re-
| main with US for a few days and
assist in building our magnetic OBJ
servatory while their wives fitted the
boys to sheepskin "kval-e-taks."
** 4 *
MYTH some misgivings, but deter
w mined to give our material a
fair trial, we had begun to erect
| building twenty-three feet long,
eighteen feet wide and six feet high
out of morainis stones. Some of the
men declared that 1t could not be
| done without mortar or cement, and
| if. done it could not possibly stand.
We carried in our arms, on our
| beasts. shoulders and heads, one by
one, stones from distances 20 to 400
| feet from the building. We wore
holes in mittens, boots and shirts. but
still stands. Robinson was our mas
ter mason, and added this occupation
to many of his other accomplishments
Inside of this rock wall was con-
structed by Whitehouse and his two
assistants, Goddard and Howell,
| double house of beavor board, with a
two-inch air space. through the floor
| of which projected cement pillars, the
firm bases for the magnetic instru-
| ments. Our trysail was stretched. as
q fiat roof for both buildings and held
to the top OF the rock walls by heavy
bags Of sand Over this a regular
our sailmaker. of heavy canvas Later,
when snow was available, our Eski-
mos surrounded and covered this COM
pletely with heavy snow blocks. maxi
ing a very satisfactory building for
the magnetic work.
| In brief, the work of our two OBJ
servers was to determine the hori-
zontal and vertical intensity of the
earth's magnetic force.
| Presumably. the reader Is familiar
with the properties of the common
magnet. A compass needle is simply
| this freely suspended to permit of
motion horizontally in any direction.
Tho Chinese discovered in early times
the worry important fact to navigators
that the direction assumed was ap-
proximately coincident with the geo.
graphical meridian, which resulted in
the mariners compass. Columbus.
however, is credited with the interest
ing discovery that on his trip to the
new world his compass needle did not
point true geographical north and
| south, but varied in its direction as
he sailed westward. From that time
to the present learned men have been
endeavoring 10 acquire knowledge of
the magnetic properties of the earth;
IN other words. to learn where q
freely suspended magnet does point