[Illustration]
“_July 17._—Fine day with a little wind. Arrived at Etah this
morning. After dinner I started ashore for the Eskimo tents with
mother and father. We had not gone far when we were overtaken by one
of father’s Eskimos with sledge and dogs. We all hopped on, and away
we dashed, over the ice and through the pools of water until we came
around the corner of the cliffs. Here we saw hundreds of little
birds called ‘Little Auks’ perched on the rocks. Father said if we
could get ashore we might find some eggs, as these birds lay their
eggs among the loose rocks, without making a nest. Each bird lays
one egg only. After quite a little trouble we reached the rocks and
began to look for eggs. I found the first one. After finding a few
more we went on to the tents. At them we found that all the men had
gone out to catch ‘Little Auks,’ so we went to the bird place. Here
the rocks were actually covered with the birds. How they chattered!
They would fly so close over our heads that we could see into their
little black eyes. One bird was marked exactly like the others. They
have black heads, necks, backs, and tails. Their breasts are white.
Their wings are black with a few white feathers in them. They have
black feet and legs. The men hide among the rocks. They have a net
on the end of a long pole. They take hold of the end of the pole and
throw the net back and forth as the birds fly to and from the rocks.
In this way the old men who cannot hunt the walrus or the bear
support themselves and their families. The women and children help.
Every Eskimo wears a shirt made of these skins, and it takes from
seventy-five to one hundred for each shirt. We found a few more eggs
here.
[Illustration:
“_Tupics of the Eskimos_”
]
[Illustration:
_Ahng-o-do-gip'-su and his wife In'-a-loo Eskimo couple at Etah_
]
“On our way down to the shore I picked many kinds of flowers. When
we reached the ice we saw our team of dogs running away with our
sledge. But an Eskimo who was just starting for the ship kindly took
me on his sledge. The Eskimos can hop off and on the sledge while
the dogs are running. I tried to do it, but once I fell in the
ice-cold water and got very wet, and that was enough for me.”
Another trip was made to the old winter home late in July and more meat
landed.
August 1st the “Windward” anchored off Etah again, and while awaiting
the coming of the ship from home AH-NI-GHI´-TO learned to paddle about
in an Eskimo kayak.
Sunday, August 5th, while AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her parents were below in
the cabin they heard the Eskimos shouting, “Oomiaksoah!” “Oomiaksoah!”
and hurrying on deck they saw a ship just rounding the point.
AH-NI-GHI´-TO was much excited because she thought she saw her uncle on
board, but as the new ship drew nearer she found it was a stranger.
The name of the ship was the “Erik” and she brought many letters from
home to AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her father and mother.
In one letter was the sad tidings that AH-NI-GHI´-TO would never see one
of her grandmothers again. This grieved her very much, and she wanted to
go home at once for fear others would be gone before she could get
there.
The “Erik” was a much larger and stronger ship than the “Windward,” and
AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father said that the “Windward” should wait here while
the “Erik” took him with his party across the now ice-filled Smith Sound
and landed him at his winter house.
[Illustration:
“_To paddle about in an Eskimo Kayak_”
]
AH-NI-GHI´-TO, her mother, and Percy went on board the “Erik” together
with her father and his party, that they might be with him as long as
possible.
Charley, the steward, was going to stay and cook, and AH-NI-GHI´-TO told
him to be sure and take care of her father.
After fighting with the ice for four days the “Erik” was still twenty
miles south of Cape Sabine, and there seemed little chance of getting
any nearer.
AH-NI-GHI´-TO’S father then said all his party and dogs and meat, with
some provisions, should be landed here, and he would work his way to his
house later in the season.
Two nights before, the old “Erik” had a narrow escape from being crushed
between a heavy floe and the straight, hard walls of a glacier face,
against which the ice had driven her.
August 29th, AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother said good-bye to “dear old
dad” and to Charley, promising to come up on the ship next summer, and
father in turn promised that he would return home with them.
The home voyage on the “Erik” was made in two weeks, landing
AH-NI-GHI´-TO in Sydney the day after her eighth birthday, September
13th, in time to catch the only train of the day for home.
Two days later she was in the home of her grandmother, but as that dear
one had been called to another home, AH-NI-GHI´-TO did not care to stay
long, and the next day she and her mother went on to New York where
uncle was waiting for them.
[Illustration:
“_Country of the Iceberg and the Midnight Sun_”
]
With him they left for Grossy’s home in Washington, where they arrived
late at night and found every one asleep. It did not take long to rouse
the household, and there was great rejoicing, for they had not seen
their “Snowbaby” for fifteen months, and she had so much to tell that it
seemed as if no one would go to bed that night.
Every one felt very sorry that AH-NI-GHI´-TO did not bring her father
home with her, but they were glad that she left him well, and that he
had promised to come home next year.
AH-NI-GHI´-TO went to school at once and found to her delight that,
because she had played at school with mother during the past winter, she
was now able to take her place with her little classmates who had been
going to school all the time she was in the Snowland.
When July came, AH-NI-GHI´-TO and her mother once more boarded the
“Windward,” with good old Captain Sam in command, and sailed for the
country of the iceberg and the midnight sun again.
When AH-NI-GHI´-TO returned from this voyage the next September she was
nine years old, and instead of sending her diary to her Grossy, who was
still in Europe, she tried to write the story of her summer in the
Snowland in a long letter to her.