I may have helped the Eskimos a little in perfecting it, by giving them more suitable material for the framework, but the canoe is original with them.
It will scarcely be considered strange that I have grown to love this childlike, simple people, as well as to value their many admirable and useful qualities.

For it must be borne in mind that for nearly a quarter of a century they have been more thoroughly known to me than any other group of human beings in the world.

The present generation of able-bodied Eskimos has practically grown up under my personal observation.

Every individual member of the tribe--man, woman, and child--is known to me by name and sight as thoroughly as the patients of an old-fashioned family physician are known to him, and perhaps the feeling existing between us is not so very different.

And the knowledge of individuals gained in this intimate way has been priceless in the work of reaching the Pole.
Take, for example, the quartet of young Eskimos who formed a portion of the sledge party that finally reached the long-courted "ninety North." The oldest of the four, Ootah, is about 34 years of age.