154 BY ESKIMO DOG-SLED 



him go without further question, and watched 

 the little procession make its way to the 

 Mission house. During the evening I saw his 

 father again, and broached the subject of 

 Martin's sealskin. 



Lukas's eyes brightened. " Ilia, ilia," he 

 said, " Martin angusimavok " (Martin has 

 quite caught a seal) as much as to say, 

 " My son is a grown-up hunter now : he is 



a man." 



" And what was he doing with the seal- 

 skin ? " said I. 



" Issumaminik " (his own idea), answered 

 Lukas ; and he wandered off into a long story 

 of the catching of the seal. " I took him to 

 the sina yesterday, to look after my dogs ; 

 but there came a seal very close, and I lent 

 Martin my gun, and he shot it. 



" Kuvianarmek (what rejoicing there was) 

 there were many people there, and Martin 

 cried, ' Anguvara, anguvara,' and they all 

 came running to see. He knows how to skin 

 a seal and cut it up, because he has often seen 

 his mother do it. Ilia, he is a man now, 

 ernera-una (that son of mine)." 



"He caught the seal himself, with his own 

 hand. Nakomek (how thankful). And he cut 

 the seal in pieces, and gave everybody a piece, 

 for that is a custom of the people when a boy 



