388 NEAREST THE POLE 



" Motherhood and the various female functions cause 

 them hardly if any more inconvenience than is the 

 case with animals. 



"The causes of death among the men come largely 

 under the terse Western expression, 'with their boots 

 on.' 



"A kayak capsizes, and the occupant is hurled into 

 the icy water; a hunter harpoons a walrus or bearded 

 seal from the ice, a bight of the line catches round arm 

 or leg, and the big brute drags him under to his death; 

 an iceberg capsizes as he is passing it ; a rock or snow- 

 slide from the steep shore cliffs crushes him; or a bear 

 tears him mortally with a stroke of his paw: and so on. 

 Occasionally, in the past, starvation has wiped out 

 an entire village. 



** On the death of a man or woman, the body, fully 

 dressed, is laid straight upon its back on a skin or two, 

 and some extra articles of clothing placed upon it. 

 It is then covered with another skin, and the whole 

 covered in with a low stone structure, to protect the 

 body from dogs, foxes, and ravens. A lamp with some 

 blubber is placed close to the grave; and if the de- 

 ceased is a man, his sledge and kayak, with his weapons 

 and implements, are placed close by, and his favourite 

 dogs, harnessed and attached to the sledge are strangled 

 to accompany him. If a woman, her cooking-utensils 

 and the frame on which she has dried the family boots 

 and mittens, are placed beside the grave. If she has 

 a dog, it is strangled to accompany her; and if she has 

 a baby in the hood, it too must die with her. 



" If the death occurred in a tent, the poles are re- 

 moved, allowing it to settle down over the site, and it 



