break into a neighbouring house and each take a dead body over his shoulders and flee up into the mountains. Before they disappeared, we heard them call down snow and snowstorms. That was so that their footprints might be covered up. And we never saw anything more of them.
"Then my brother, his wife, and his two children (one of his children had already died of hunger), and I and my wife left our dwelling and decided to turn back. We did not get far. It was the dark season, and a very great cold set in, and there was nothing to catch. On this journey my brother lost his wife, who went astray on a glacier, and did not return. We had to stay where we were and build snow-huts, and, as we had no food, we were obliged to eat our dogs. That left us of course without teams. And when we wanted to continue our journey, we were obliged to harness ourselves to our sledges and pull them.
"The fifth year after our departure with Qitdlarssuaq we arrived back again here, after having endured great hardships. It is a difficult matter to cover long distances when you have no teams, and it is difficult to procure food without dogs. But the man who spends his life travelling must often put up with ungentle conditions. I will finish by just telling you what happened to my brother Qumangâpik.
"He was married four times altogether, and, by the four marriages, had fifteen children. His first wife, Patdloq, went astray on a snow-covered glacier and froze to death; his second wife, Ivaloq, was buried under an avalanche, and frozen to death; his third wife, Nujaliaq, died of illness; and his fourth wife, Eqagssuaq, was frozen to death. Of his fifteen children, one was starved to death, four were frozen, and five died of illness. Qumangâpik himself was frozen to death during a snowstorm.
"I will tell you about his death.
"They were living the first part of the winter that year at Etâ, but when their meat was nearly at an end, and their blubber too, and they were in danger of being obliged to sit in their houses with lamps out—they were sixteen souls,—they
