MY ESQUIMAU PEOPLE.
My Esquimau people now numbered seventeen souls; namely, six men, four women, and seven children; and they presented as many different shades of character and usefulness. The inconveniences to which they subjected us were amply compensated for by the sewing which the wives of Kalutunah and Tcheitchenguak did for us; for, in spite of all our ingenuity and patience, there was no one in the ship's company who could make an Esquimau boot, and this boot is the only suitable covering for the foot in the Arctic regions. Of the men, Hans was the most useful; for, in spite of his objectionable qualities, he was, Jensen excepted, my best hunter. Kalutunah came on board daily, and, as a privileged guest, he sought me in my cabin. My journey over to Etah made him supremely happy; for, like the sound of coming battle to the warrior who has long reposed in peace, a new life was put into him when I offered him the care of one of my newly acquired teams. He came on board the next morning and took charge of the dogs; and when, a few days afterward, I further exhibited my confidence in him by sending him down to Cape Alexander to see if the ice was firm, the cup of his joy was full to the brim.
RECOVERY OF SONNTAG'S BODY.
The report of Kalutunah being favorable, I dispatched Mr. Dodge to bring up the body of Mr. Sonntag. He took the two teams, Kalutunah driving one and Hans the other.
Mr. Dodge performed the journey with skill and energy. He reached Sorfalik in five hours, and had no difficulty in finding the locality of which they were in search, Hans remembering it by a large rock, or rather cliff, in the lee of which they had built their snow-hut. But the winds had since piled the snow over the hut, and it was completely buried out of sight. They were therefore compelled to disinter the body by laboriously digging through the hard drift; and it being quite dark and they much fatigued when the task was completed, they constructed a shelter of snow, fed their dogs, and rested. Although the temperature was 42° below zero, they managed to sleep in their furs without serious inconvenience. This was the first of Mr. Dodge's experience at this sort of camping out, and he was justly elated with the success of the experiment.
Setting out as soon as the daylight returned, the party came back by the same track which they had before pursued; but, greatly to their surprise, the tides and wind had, in the interval, carried off much of the ice in the neighborhood of the cape, so that they had before them the prospect of the very difficult task of crossing the glacier. This, not particularly embarrassing to an empty sledge, would have been exceedingly so to them. Fortunately, however, they succeeded with some risk in getting over a very treacherous place where the ice-foot, to which they were forced to adhere, was sloping, and one of the sledges had nearly gone over into the sea. Kalutunah saved it by a dexterous movement which could have been performed with safety only by one familiar, by long experience, with such dangers and expedients.
BURIAL OF SONNTAG.
The body of our late comrade was placed in the observatory, where a few weeks before his fine mind had been intent upon those pursuits which were the delight of his life; and on the little staff which surmounted the building the flag was raised at half-mast.
The preparations for the funeral were conducted with fitting solemnity. A neat coffin was made under the supervision of Mr. McCormick, and the body having been placed therein with every degree of care, it was, on the second day after the return of Mr. Dodge, brought outside and covered with the flag, and then, followed by the entire ship's company, in solemn procession, it was borne by four of the sorrowing messmates of the deceased to the grave which had, with much difficulty, been dug in the frozen terrace. As it lay in its last cold resting-place, I read over the body the burial-service, and the grave was then closed. Above it we afterward built, with stones, a neatly shaped mound, and marked the head with a chiseled slab, bearing this inscription:—
