Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk

by Buddy Levy

Bartlett benefited immensely from this Arctic apprenticeship. He discovered the importance of keeping his feet dry at all costs to avoid the nightmare that Peary had been through. An Inuit guide showed him how to line the bottoms of his boots with grasses and lichens as insulation to keep the soles of his feet from freezing.

Bartlett didn’t want the Eskimos to feel left out, even though Christmas was not a traditional holiday for them. He gave beautiful hunting knives and watches to Kataktovik and Kuraluk and handed Auntie a lovely cotton dress, plus “talcum powder, soap, a looking glass, and comb and a brush,” with a cotton dress each for Helen and little Mugpi. Bartlett knew there weren’t likely to be many events—besides this evening and maybe New Year’s—for the women and girls to use the cotton dresses, but it was a sweet gesture all the same.