SOLVING A PROBLEM III 



merely tells of the doings of the elders in a time 

 of crisis. 



The peace, as I have said, was sadly disturbed, 

 and this is how it came about. Just how or when I 

 cannot say, but true it is that some evil genius had 

 taught the Eskimos to brew a vile concoction of 

 treacle and mouldy biscuits, and the effect of this 

 appalling stuff was that drunkenness began to be 

 seen in our village. 



The brewing was furtive, but it was going on in 

 several huts. The Eskimos themselves recognised 

 it as a deed of darkness, and in the dark of the 

 evening the drinking was done. It was a dreadful 

 pity to see strong drink taking hold of this simple 

 people, from time immemorial a teetotal race ; but 

 there the thing was. 



My first knowledge of it came from a shouting 

 outside, and when I opened the door there was a 

 fine young hunter standing on the top of a little 

 slope flinging stones at his wife, who was crouching 

 below. The man could hardly stand upon his feet, 

 so drunk was he. When the door opened in iied the 

 frightened woman, while the man rolled shouting 

 homewards. The terrified villagers were standing in 

 a ring, keeping a safe distance ; they thought the 

 man had a devil. It was the only way by which their 

 simple minds could explain this roaring madness. 

 Then we heard more of it. Somebody had pursued 

 another over the hills with a gun ; there had been 

 an old quarrel between neighbours about an axe, 

 and one member in his drunkenness bethought him- 

 self of this, and went battering on his neighbour's 



