CHAPTER PAGE I. BABY DAYS 9 II. MOTHER AND CHILD 18 III. PLAY-DAYS 28 IV. DOG TEAM AND SLEDGE 38 V. KAYAK AND HARPOON 49 VI. THE SEAL HUNT 63 VII. FEAST AND FUN 74 VIII. HARD TIMES 80 IX. AN ESKIMO CHRISTMAS 91 X. SUMMER TRAVELS 97
PAGE ETU _Frontispiece_ "HE WHO HITS THE GREATEST NUMBER WINS THE GAME" 31 "ETU HAD BECOME QUITE SKILFUL" 41 "WHIZZ! SOUNDS THE HARPOON AS IT SPEEDS FROM ETU'S SHOULDER" 67 "ETU STOPPED MOVING AND LAY QUITE STILL" 89 "THE BLOCKS OF SNOW WERE HANDED TO THEM" 98
A PAIR of very bright black eyes peered out from the mother's hood that winter morning. The thermometer, if there had been one, would have shown the temperature to be seventy degrees below the freezing point.
Yet baby Etu did not seem to care. He was nestled so warmly in the heavy furs, and felt so safe on his mother's broad back, that he laughed and crowed in pure delight.
It was his first ride since he was born, and there was so much to look at! At least he thought so, though great sheets of snow stretched outward to the frozen ocean, and covered the land in every direction. The twinkling stars gave the only light for Etu to see by, yet it was daytime. It was that part of the twenty-four hours when the baby's people did their work; and that must be called day in Etu's far northern country, even though darkness covers all the land.
For Etu lives in the frozen zone, on the shores of northern Alaska, and during the long winter of eight months the sun shows his face very little above the horizon.
Here and there the snow looked as if it had been raised into low mounds. Near these mounds holes could be seen in the ground, and pathways dug out between them. There were no trees, no fences, no roads.
Where was the village, and where was the baby's home? Those holes marked the entrances to the winter houses built by Etu's father and his neighbours. The mounds were the coverings of the houses. Great pits had been dug in the earth, and lined with driftwood which had floated on to the shore. Jaws of whales made the framework of the roofs, these being covered with sods cut out of the marshy plains in summer. Mother Nature did the rest by protecting all with a warm close blanket of snow.
At first it makes one shudder to think of living in such homes during the long Arctic winter. But the Eskimos are satisfied, and feel so comfortable that they remove a great part of their clothing while they are indoors. The houses are made so snug that the sharpest winds cannot enter, and they cost nothing but the labour of making them.