C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

100 THE LADIES, THE GWICH'IN, AND THE RATand boxes ashore on this melancholy tract of waste land, we tried to look as happyas if we had been landed for the night in a hospitable home. We had not learnedthat the Arctic shows little hospitality to intruders. We thanked Mr Parsons andthe lad and they steamed away down the river. Feeling hungry and sleepy, wepitched our tent, sprayed the inside with Flit, laid our bags on a bed of moss andLedum and set up our nets, We felt like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego clad in"their hosen, their tunics and their mantles, and their other garments," when,fully dressed, we crawled in under our mosquito bars. Only after tucking in thewalls of the net did we, by a gymnastic effort, remove our hats and shoes. Then wewriggled into our bags.