122 AN ESKIMO VILLAGE 



But here was a Killinek woman who had lived for 

 years as one of the wives of old Tuglavi the chief 

 in a hideous turf hut on the sodden slope of the hill ; 

 and even among the neat wooden homes of the village 

 of Okak, and amid all the hospitality of a well- 

 ordered Eskimo community, this poor woman was 

 homesick. She made up her mind that she would 

 go back to the north, to see her native village once 

 more, and her children seemed to pine just as eagerly 

 for their home as she herself. 



Now it came about In the spring-time that one of 

 the Okak missionaries set out on a visit to Hebron, 

 the next village north, and the heathen woman 

 begged a lift upon his sledge. She felt that if she 

 could reach Hebron she would at least have made 

 a step upon her journey ; and she was content to 

 trust to a chance sledge, or to wait until the ice 

 should break and a boat be able to travel, and so by 

 one means or another she would reach her well-loved 

 Killinek. 



I watched the little party set out upon their way. 

 The woman and her sturdy boys walked ahead along 

 the track, for they would not weary the dogs by 

 riding more than they needed ; beside them trooped 

 the usual bevy of friends and well-wishers, " seeing 

 them off " in Eskimo style by going the first mile 

 with them. And so they left the village of Okak, 

 with their faces toward the north ; the sledge with 

 its bunch of trotting dogs turned out of the bay on 

 to the wide sea ice and was lost to sight behind the 

 headland, and the crowd that stood watching on the 



