CHAPTER XIII 



ON THE KUSKOKWIM RIVER 



Then sit we down, and let us all consult 



Titus Andronicus 

 I'll pluck thee berries, 

 I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough 



The Tempest 



NEXT morning we four, with Steve as interpreter, 

 rowed to the settlement, nestling on the south bank, 

 a filthy, evil-smelling collection of baraboras, and 

 as we landed the women left their work and mounted 

 the roofs the better to see the visitors. Pulling up 

 the bidarkas with very willing hands, a crowd of 

 Innuit men gave us greeting. 



Decaying carcases of seals and rotten salmon 

 dotted the trodden earth, and but for the ravens and 

 the eagles who played the part of Health Officers, I 

 imagine the state of that Innuit abiding place would 

 have been even more insanitary than it was. The 

 birds swooped down and picked up pieces of decom- 

 posing matter from under our very feet. The whole 

 village was rather like an abattoir, and the most 

 ordinary sense of smell would guide any one straight 

 to it from a mile off. 



A great catch of hair seals was in process of being 

 converted into blubber, and everything in the vicinity 



was larded with the liquid, people, beach, air, houses, 



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