imo villages, by which a permanent settlement is
not meant, for these barbarians are nomads. One year there may be two
families there; another year ten; and still another season none at all,
for the Eskimos seldom live more than a year or two in one place.

As we neared the Cape, the headland was encircled and guarded by an
enormous squadron of floating icebergs which made it difficult for the
_Roosevelt_ to get near shore; but long before we reached these bergs
the hunters of the settlement were seen putting out to greet us. The
sight of them skimming the water so easily in their frail kayaks was the
most welcome spectacle I had seen since we sailed from Sydney.

[Illustration: ESKIMOS COMING OFF TO THE ROOSEVELT IN KAYAKS]

It seems fitting to give a good deal of attention at this point to the
consideration of this interesting little race, the most northerly people
in all the world, for their help is one of the elements without which it
is possible that the North Pole might never have been reached. Some
years ago, in fact, I had occasion to write of these people a few
sentences that, as it has turned out, were so prophetic that it seems
appropriate to reproduce them here. Those sentences were:

"I have often been asked: Of what use are Eskimos to the world? They are
too far removed to be of value for commercial enterprises and,
furthermore, they lack ambition. They have no literature nor, properly
speaking, any art. They value life only as does a fox, or a bear, purely
by instinct. But let us not forget that these people, trustworthy and
hardy, will yet prove their value to mankind. With their help, the world
shall discover the Pole."

The hope that had been expressed in this language so long before was in
my mind as I saw my old friends coming out to meet us in their tiny
kayaks, for I realized that I was once more in contact with these
faithful dwellers of the North, who had been my constant companions for
so many years, through all the varying circumstances and fortunes of my
arctic work, and from whom I was again to select the pick and flower of
the hunters of the whole tribe, extending from Cape York to Etah, to
assist in this last effort to win the prize.

[Illustration: ESKIMO IN KAYAK]

Since 1891 I had been living and working with these people, gaining
their absolute confidence, making them my debtors for things given them,
earning their gratitude by saving, time after time, the lives of their
wives an