ESQUIMAU TEAMS. 257 



sledge and hearty, sleek dogs — bore ample evidence 

 of the sagacity of the tribe. Tattarat was a very dif- 

 ferent style of person. His name signifies " The Kitti- 

 wake Gull," and a more fitting title could hardly have 

 been bestowed upon him, for he was the perfect type 

 of that noisy, chattering, graceful bird, thriftless to 

 the last degree -, and, like many another kittiwake 

 gull or Harold Skimpole of society, he was, in spite 

 of thieving and other arts, always " out at elbows." 

 Myouk was not unlike him, only that he was worse, 

 if possible. He was, in truth, one of Satan's regularly 

 enlisted light-infantry, and was as full of tricks as 

 Asmodeus himself 



The party came up on two sledges. Kalutunah 

 drove one and Tattarat the other. Kalutunah's team 

 was his own. Of the other team, two dogs belonged 

 to Tattarat, one was borrowed, and the fourth was the 

 property of Myouk. It is curious to observe how the 

 same traits of character exhibit themselves in all peo- 

 ples, and by the same evidences. While Kalutunah 

 came in with his dogs looking fresh and in fine condi- 

 tion, with strong traces and soUd sledge, the team of 

 Tattarat were a set of as lean and hungry-looking curs 

 as ever was seen, their traces all knotted and tangled, 

 and the sledge rickety and almost tumbling to pieces. 

 They had traveled all the way from Iteplik without 

 halting, excej^t for a short rest at Sorfalik. They 

 declared that they had not tasted food since leaving 

 their homes ; and if the appetite should govern the 

 belief, I thought that there were no grounds for doubt- 

 ing, since they made away with the best part of a 

 quarter of venison, the swallowing of which was much 

 aided by sundry chunks of walrus blubber, before 



17 



