42 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



may some day attain. For the good go to this 

 place, viz., those who have been kind to their 

 neighbours, those who have been drowned, those 

 who have been killed while hunting ; also women 

 who have died in child-birth. 



On the other hand, murderers, and those who 

 have been angry with, and generally unkind to, 

 their neighbours go to the land which is below. In 

 this region storms rage ; the cold is intense, and 

 animal life is scarce. 



Stories told by the people themselves illustrate 

 their hopes of a better world more graphically 

 than any words of explanation. An old Eskimo, 

 who in his time had been a mighty hunter, told Mu 

 Peck one day that many years ago he had seen a 

 very wonderful seal. Its fat was so thick and it 

 made the creature so buoyant that it could not 

 dive when pursued by the hunters. This aged 

 Nimrod explained matters by assuring his visitor 

 that such seals fall down from heaven, and that the 

 bliss of the future state consists in the number of 

 fat seals, reindeer, and other coveted animals that 

 will be found above. 



Another day an Eskimo woman narrated with 

 evident sincerity how she had been away inland 

 with a number of people who were hunting rein- 

 deer. Suddenly they heard a wonderful noise close 

 at hand, and, looking in the direction of the sound, 

 they saw the carcase of a fat reindeer which, she 



