CHAPTER XVI 



SOLVING A PROBLEM 



The peace of our village has been sadly disturbed. 

 Now let me tell you that the keeping of peace and 

 good order in the village is in the hands of four men 

 four solid and ordinary Eskimos, who are elected 

 by the people themselves. Village elders, you might 

 call them. " Angajokaukattiget " is the mouthful of 

 the Eskimo language by which the people them- 

 selves know them, and if you pick that seven- 

 syllabled appellation to pieces, you arrive at "the 

 collection of great men," or, shall we say, "the 

 band of leaders." Anyway, " elders " let it be, and 

 know that the four are grave Eskimos of middle age, 

 chosen, as you may well imagine, not alone for their 

 own orderly way of living, but also for the respect 

 they have earned by their prowess as hunters of 

 seals and walruses. 



The election is a great event. It happens about 

 Christmas time, and as the church is the only room 

 big enough to hold the people, in church the election 

 is held. At the ringing of the bell, in flock the 

 villagers ; the missionary is at the reading-desk, to 

 see that all is done with due decorum, and a bit of 

 paper is handed to every man over the age of 

 twenty-one. They are the voters, the men of hunt- 

 ing age. Women's suffrage had not reached the 



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