influence of a missionary, embraced Christianity, and abandoned the
heathen conjuring swindle by which he was, up to that time, making a
good living. Now he lives a life about as clean and free from the
heathenism and superstitions of his race as any Eskimo can who adopts
a new religion. The missionary whom I have mentioned led Potokomik's
mother to accept Christ and renounce Torngak when she was on her
deathbed, and before she died she confessed to many sins, amongst them
that of having aided in the killing and eating, when driven to the act
by starvation, of her own mother.

After our tent was pitched and the Eskimos had spread the _Explorer's_
sail as a shelter for themselves, Kumuk and Iksialook left us to look
for driftwood and, in half an hour, returned with a few small sticks
that they had found on the shore. These sticks were exceedingly
scarce and, of course, very precious and with the greatest economy in
the use of the wood, a fire was made and the kettle boiled for tea.

At first the Eskimos were always doing unexpected things and
springing surprises upon us, but soon we became more or less
accustomed to their ways. Not one of them could talk or understand
English and my Eskimo vocabulary was limited to the one word "Oksu-
nae," and we therefore had considerable difficulty in making each
other understand, and the pantomime and various methods of
communication resorted to were often very funny to see. Potokomik
and I started in at once to learn what we could of each other's
language, and it is wonderful how much can be accomplished in the ac-
quirement of a vocabulary in a short time and how few words are
really necessary to convey ideas. I would point at the tent and say,
"Tent," and he would say, "Tupek"; or at my sheath knife and say,
"Knife," and he would say, "Chevik," and thus each learned the