NELSON] HOSPITALITY 297 



large village of Kofiigunugumut, near the mouth of the Kuskokwim, 

 I was given a very surly reception, and it was almost necessary for me 

 to use force before I could get anyone to guide me to the next village. 

 On the contrary, at Askiuuk and Kaialigamut, in the same district, the 

 people ran out at our approach, unharnessed our dogs, put our sledges 

 on the framework, and carried our bedding into the kashim with the 

 greatest good will. 



At King island, in Bering strait, the same spirit was shown by the 

 people during the visit of the Cortcin, when they insisted on having us 

 enter their houses. Their attention sometimes became embarrassing, 

 as in one instance when I was stopping in a house on the outer side of 

 St Michael island. An old man came home from fishing in the afternoon 

 and was given a small tray containing tomcod livers and berries, kneaded 

 by his wife into a kind of paste. From his trinket box he took an old 

 spoon fastened to a short wooden handle and began eating the mix 

 ture with great pleasure, until he suddenly remembered that there was 

 a guest present. At this he stopped eating and, wiping the bowl of the 

 spoon on the toe of his sealskin boot, gravely handed it and the dish 

 to me, whereupon I declined them with equal gravity. 



That morning I had fallen into the water while hunting, and as a 

 consequence remained in the house all day to dry my clothes. At one 

 time or another during the day nearly everyone in the village came to 

 see me, and in every instance my hostess placed a few tomcods before 

 the callers. 



This practice of offering a small quantity of food to guests is con 

 sidered to be proper among the Eskimo. Wherever I visited them, 

 and any people of the same village came in in a social way, they were 

 given food, unless everyone was on the verge of famine. 



On October 3, 1878, 1 arrived at Kigiktauik in a large kaiak with two 

 paddle men. As we drew near the village one of the men welcomed 

 us by tiring his gun in the air, and then ran down to help us land, after 

 which he led the way to his house. The room was partly filled with 

 bags of seal oil and other food supplies, and the remaining space was 

 soon occupied by a do/en or more villagers, who came to see us and 

 were regaled with the tea that was left after I had finished my supper, 

 and soon after my blankets were taken to the kashim, where I retired. 



A small knot of Eskimo were gathered in the middle of the room 

 around a blanket spread on the floor, and were deeply interested in a 

 game of poker, the stakes being musket caps, which were used for chips. 

 Scattered about on the floor and sleeping benches were a number 

 of men and boys in varying stages of nudity, which was entirely justi 

 fied by the oppressive heat arising from the bodies of the people congre 

 gated in the tightly closed room. Two small seal-oil lamps, consisting 

 of saucer-shape clay dishes of oil with moss wicks, threw a dim light 

 on the smoke-blackened interior. In a short time the planks were 

 taken up from over the tire pit, and a roaring tire was built for a sweat 



