The Eskimos showed great astonishment at the boats and other strange things that they saw, and when Nansen gave them some food, they seemed much pleased. By gestures they warned Nansen about the dangerous Puisortok, and then set off northward again in their kayaks.
Nansen and his men passed Puisortok without any trouble, though they talked and laughed as usual. They looked at the dreaded glacier, and admired the beautiful color of the ice, which shaded from blue to a milky white. Yet old Puisortok showed no signs of anger. Soon the wayfarers came upon an Eskimo camp. High up among the rocks stood the skin tents, while the Eskimos themselves were gathered outside, running about in a highly excited manner, chattering and waving their arms. As the boats came nearer, the people on the land yelled and shrieked. Some ran to the shore, and some to high points on rocks, where they could get a better view of the strangers.
They welcomed the newcomers with smiles of delight, and helped them in every possible way. Nansen and his friends were invited into the Eskimo tents. They remained inside as long as possible, but the filth soon drove them out. When Nansen and his men went to bed in their own tent, the Eskimos stood around in crowds, gaping curiously to see them undress and crawl into their sleeping bags.
The Eskimos gave the white men pieces of sealskin, and in return their guests presented them with the empty tin cans in which their meat had been packed. These gifts pleased the natives very much. They contrived to make Nansen understand that two tribes, one traveling north and the other south, had met at this place, and that now they were preparing to separate and continue their journey. Nansen determined to accompany the tribe which was going north, because he thought that their knowledge of the coast might be of assistance to him.
The accomplished Eskimos were not long in preparing for the journey. In a twinkling the tents were down and everything was packed. Before they parted, the members of the different tribes bade one another good-by, rubbing their noses together, instead of kissing. A few remained behind the others for a specially tender farewell. They drew up in a line like soldiers, and brought out snuff horns. One man would take snuff from a horn, and pass it on to the next. They spent several hours in this ceremony, each man taking snuff many times. Nansen thought they would sneeze themselves to death.
Only the Eskimos who had come from the south had their horns full of snuff. The tribe from the north was bound for the Danish colonies on the southern coast, to procure this important article. The journey takes about two years, one year to reach the Danish colonies, and one year to return. When the colonies are reached, the Eskimos spend an hour or two in trading. After they obtain the snuff, they start on their homeward journey. Their form of snuff is simply tobacco, ground to a powder between stones. In exchange for the tobacco, the Eskimos give large, fine bearskins, foxskins, and sealskins. They pay high prices for articles which cost the white men very little money.
When the farewell was over, the Eskimos parted, and Nansen tried to keep the north-bound travelers in sight, but he soon found that he must depend upon himself and break his own way through the ice. The journey grew harder and harder, and in camp the travelers were often tormented by swarms of mosquitoes. Clouds of the small insects swarmed around them and annoyed the men almost beyond endurance. Any amount of work in the ice was to be preferred to an attack by mosquitoes.
The party traveled through the water among huge icebergs; they plodded wearily over ice hummocks; finally, they drew up their boats for the last time at a place where Nansen thought they could climb the steep ascent from the coast, and reach the inland ice.
The boats were left in a cleft in the rocks, carefully blocked with stones to keep them steady. Then began the climb up the mountains to the plateau. The ascent was steep, and the men had hard work to drag up the sledges. Often one of the climbers would sink into a deep crevasse and have to be rescued by his companions.
