A note on the use of the word Eskimo. In some contemporary Canadian communities, where the term Inuit is preferred, Eskimo has become an anachronism, even a pejorative, in part because of a disputed etymology that traces the word to an expression meaning “eaters of raw meat.” In other places, Eskimo is still widely used. In any case, Inuit does not serve as a blanket substitute for Eskimo, either historically or geographically. Inuit, the plural of the noun Inuk, for “human being,” refers only to the Inuit-speaking peoples of Arctic Canada and parts of Greenland. In Alaska and Arctic Siberia, where Inuit is not spoken, the comparable terms are Inupiaq and Yup’ik. Given the historical period in which the story recounted here took place, and the hundreds of original documents and newpaper clippings on which my research was based, it seemed appropriate to use the historical and inclusive term Eskimo. When describing my own recent journey to the town of Kugluktuk, I used the term Inuit.