The Arctic Highlander wears a shirt of bird-skin neatly sewn together next to the skin, with the soft down inwards, over which there is a loose _kapetah_ or jumper of fox-skin, tight round the neck, where a hood is attached to it. The _nessak_ or hood is lined with bird-skins and trimmed with fox fur. The breeches, called _nannuk_, are of bear-skin and come down to the knees, and above are just in contact with the _kapetah_, when the wearer is standing upright. On the feet bird-skin socks are worn with a padding of grass, over which come bear-skin boots. By means of their sledges these hunters can move swiftly to the bear-hunting grounds, and no hunters in the world display more indomitable courage and presence of mind, or more skill and judgment in the exercise of their craft. Their number, when first discovered, was about 300. From an ethnological point of view they are the most interesting of all savage tribes, by reason of their wonderful exodus and their isolation. We have now passed in review all the dwellers on the Arctic Threshold, from Lapland round the northern shores of Siberia and America to Greenland, considering them with reference to their environment, and we have traced the wanderings of the Onkilon until we find the last remnant of the exodus on the northern shore of Baffin’s Bay. Such a brief survey is a necessary introduction to the history of Arctic enterprise. CHAPTER IV ULTIMA THULE The first tidings of the existence of the Arctic Regions that reached the civilised world were due to the voyage of a Greek navigator of great knowledge and ability. The people of the Ionian city of Phocaea in Asia Minor, scorning to submit to Median domination, had formed a very flourishing commercial colony at Massilia, near the mouth of the Rhône, on the southern coast of Gaul. Strange products reached them from unknown regions to the north, coming over great distances and then down the river Rhône. These products included tin and amber. The interest of the able and imaginative Greeks of Massilia was aroused, and a strong desire was felt that the regions whence this tin and amber came should be discovered. Fortunately the colony possessed a man eminently fitted to conduct an exploring expedition, in the person of Pytheas, an astronomer and mathematician. As it is alleged by Polybius that Pytheas was in poor circumstances, it is probable that the voyage he undertook was not his own venture, but that he was placed in command of a government expedition. It is certain that he prepared for his perilous enterprise with great care. He first carefully fixed his point of departure at Massilia by erecting a large gnomon divided into 120 parts. Observing its shadow at noon of the day of the solstice he found that its length was 42 parts of the gnomon, less one-fifth, that is 41⅘ths to 120, or 209 to 600. This proportion gave 70° 47′ 50″ for the altitude of the sun. The length of the longest day was 15 hours 15 minutes.