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Knud Rasmussen:
"Natsilivik is a little settlement with three houses. Heart
space is the reason all of us get a roof over our heads. We are 15 men
in each house, and that is confusing the first hours. The dogs are tied
up out on the ice; tents are sat up for making coffee on buzzing primuses;
while the dogs get their food from the overfilled meat depots.
...
I decided to make a morning visit at Iterfiluks house, that lays 15
min walk from the others. Iterfiluk is a chatty widow, about 50 years
old, and a good friend of mine. During winter she's often been in Thule
to sew footwear for the expedition members.
...
Her house is also filled up with travelers, and while her guests are
sleeping, she is sitting stark naked beside her blubber lamp, as one
of the holy virgins, watching over the cozy light so it doesn´t
extinguish. Up here it's considered a shame if the guests of the house
would wake up cold with an extinguished blubber lamp. I also have to
follow the customs of this country and throw my clothes off, push myself
in between Iterfiluk and her friend, the fat Kiajuk, who is carrying
the same paradise costume as the hostess. I was talking with her for
a long time, until tiredness and the atmosphere of the house forced
me to turn around and lay down between the other guest and let consciousness
roll away."
7. April 1916
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