quantity of frozen salmon I declined further food. I had long ago
learned to relish fish and meat which they call "topee," and which
civilized people denominate "rotten". When frozen it does not taste
any worse than some kinds of cheese smell, and is a strong and
wholesome diet unless eaten in great quantities. It fortifies the
system against cold, and, shortly after eating, causes a healthy
glow of warmth to pervade the body, even in the coldest weather. I can
now eat almost anything an Esquimau can, and almost as much. Though
the weather during the four days of my journey out was intensely
cold--the thermometer ranging from thirty to sixty degrees below zero
most of the time, with a strong wind blowing--I did not suffer with
the cold, except that my nose and cheeks would occasionally freeze. In
fact, if I had no nose I believe I could stand the cold nearly as well
as the natives. Even they are constantly freezing their noses and
cheeks, and there seems to be no way of avoiding this very
disagreeable contingency.

I was with the Kinnepatoos a week, during which I lived upon frozen
meat and fish, and enjoyed myself studying their habits and customs.
Every night they met in one large igloo, twenty-five feet in diameter
at the base, and twelve feet high, where the men would play upon the
ki-lowty while the women sung in unison. The ki-lowty is a drum, made
by stretching a thin deerskin over a huge wooden hoop, with a short
handle on one side. In playing, the man grasps the handle with his left
hand, and constantly turns it, while he strikes it upon the wooden
side, alternately, with a wooden drumstick shaped like a potato-masher.
With each blow he bends his knees, and though there are various degrees
of skill in playing, I have never yet learned to be critical. I can
only see a difference in style. Some are dramatic, some classical, some
furious and others buffo. The song is a monotonous, drawling wail, with