When one of the northern belles was shaping a garment for Bartlett to wear on the spring sledge journey, he anxiously urged her to give him plenty of room.

Her reply was a mixed Eskimo and English equivalent for: "You just trust me, Captain! When you get out on the road to the Nor Pol, you'll need a draw-string in your jacket, and not gussets." She had seen me and my men come back from previous sledge journeys, and she knew the effect of long continued fatigue and scanty rations in making a man's clothes fit him loosely.
The Eskimos had the run of the ship, but the port side of the forward deck house was given to them entirely.

A wide platform three or four feet high, made of packing boxes, was placed around the wall of the deck house for them to sleep on.

Each family had its own quarters, partitioned off by planks, and screened in front by a curtain.

They cooked their own meat and whatever else they desired, though Percy, the ship's steward, provided them with tea and coffee.