These Eskimos are as irregular in their habits of sleep as they are in regard to their meals. During the four months of constant sunshine they usually arise when the sun is in the south, but the Eskimo never thinks of going to bed until he is sleepy, so that in time of excitement, when there is a new arrival or in the pursuit of game, he will often remain awake for forty-eight or seventy-two hours, and then he will sleep 'until the spirit of sleep has left him,' as he expresses it.

"The Eskimos endure fasting very well, and after a good, full meal they can fast for two or three days, apparently without serious inconvenience. Indeed, when food is scarce - which usually happens during the period of darkness - some thrive on about one meal a week, but they appreciate the fact that he who is not well fed cannot encounter fierce storms, and no one who has not had full rations would think of venturing out in severe weather. During the tedious night of four months these Eskimos appear to undergo a state of hibernation, eating very little and sleeping a great deal; their otherwise lively spirits are more or less subdued, and while they try to keep cheerful they are apt to become depressed and debilitated, and they are not capable of great muscular exercise during this time. When the sun returns their skins are somewhat jaundiced, and they are very anaemic. This peculiar effect was also produced in the members of our party in a more exaggerated form, although we tried many methods of overcoming the depression, and though we had no trace of scurvy our will powers were lessened, and our ambition was, to some extent, lost, and our muscular power as well was much reduced, so that a walk of a mile produced exhaustion.

All of the secretions were diminished, particularly those of the digestive tract, and to stimulate these taxed my mental skill for the greater part of the winter of 1891-'92, but with us, as with the Eskimo, as soon as the sun returned our strength and ambition came back, and we felt as if we had gained a new lease of life and were ready to encounter any hardship.

"The Eskimo drinks very little while eating. He usually defers that for some time afterwards, or perhaps until he arises next morning, when he drinks a great deal, and while I have not measured the quantity of water consumed by any definite number of inches in twenty-four hours, I have often given Eskimo men three pints of water at one time, and nursing women two quarts. Before starting upon a journey a native will fill up with water. It should be remembered that these people use no free salt or condiments.

"I am not prepared to say that the food of these people bears any relation to their stature, as other factors may influence their height, but their large abdominal development is undoubtedly due to the immense quantity of food and drink which they consume at one time. Variation in diet does not seem to be a necessity to the Eskimo unless he is feeling ill, when he recognises the importance of a change of food and surroundings. He will always hail with pleasure the first bird, deer, or walrus of the season.

"The Eskimo's clothing is such a perfect non-conductor that the temperature does not vary much around his body, and in summer it is practically the same as in the coldest day of winter. For this reason, the extreme cold of winter does not call for a large quantity of food, but a native knows that his food is fuel for his body, and that he must take it in sufficient quantity to develop muscular power and animal heat.

" The Eskimo mother nurses her child until the next is born or shortly before it, a period which varies in from one to eight or nine years, but the average time is four years. Long before the mother weans her child she masticates the food, opens the baby's mouth, and transfers the food from her own mouth to the baby's, very much as a pigeon does, and the child thus brought up would not think of taking up pieces of meat or toys or anything else to put into its mouth, for it will take nothing except from its mother.

"The members of our expedition took very few forced marches in low temperatures. The one over the interior of Greenland was undertaken at the time of year when the thermometer ranges from 5° F. below zero to 400 above.

"The quantity of food consumed per man every twenty-four hours upon this expedition was as follows:

Pemmican............................................. 1½ pound.

Bacon, fat............................................ 6 ounces.

Powdered pea soup..................................... 2 "

Dry ship biscuits....................................... 12 "

Condensed milk........................................ 3 "

"A quart of tea with perhaps a pint of water was our only drink, but we had no drink through the day while on the march, and often were unable to secure more fluid than two cups each morning and night. The pemmican was composed of dried beef and beef tallow, half and half, a few currants, and a little sugar, but no salt. On several expeditions during the spring of 1892, while the thermometer ranged from 200 to 400 F. below zero, the members of the party always consumed large quantities of food. This was not, however, until they had been out two or three days, when the amount of food which they could devour seemed almost unlimited. There was no time that we craved for fat. We enjoyed the pemmican immensely, but that was because we had nothing else. During the extreme cold weather, while in the field, we took more kindly to fats, but never in preference to other foods. Canned meats, for some unexplained reason, were soon in disfavour, for the variety and character of the food seemed to be of very little consequence; indeed, our appetites were such that we were ready to eat anything and everything placed before us.

We were, however, always liberally supplied with hydrocarbons, and I believe had this not been the case, a demand for them would soon have arisen, for the most valuable food for a polar expedition is composed largely of hydrocarbons.