152 AN ESKIMO VILLAGE 



they are, and so near are some of the disappointed 

 ones that stand behind. It means much to an 

 Eskimo to Hve on the front line. At high tide his 

 boat can come to the door and save him much weary 

 carrying ; and in winter-time there is no hill up 

 which his dogs must toil, for that great broad road 

 from north to south, the frozen sea, lies flat before 

 him. 



The huts on the hillside seem a little m.ore aloof ; 

 they have more room ; they stand in solitary ones 

 and twos ; but then they get the full brunt of the 

 storms, and are buried to the chimney-pipes in snow 

 when winter comes. And so there is keen competi- 

 tion for the places on the sea front, and huts there 

 are handed down from one generation to the next. 



I thought that young Jako had come into good 

 fortune one day, for as I walked one wintry day 

 along the path between the houses and the beach I 

 came upon him chopping wood. I stopped to pass 

 the time of day and to ask about the hunting, for 

 this young man was one of the handiest with the 

 skin canoe and the long harpoon. And as he told 

 me of the seals and the walrus, he went on chopping 

 wood. I saw other men a-chopping, for this was 

 winter weather. As he paused to roll another log 

 beneath his foot, I could hear the sound of axes 

 echoing among the huts ; the men were chopping 

 firewood for their stoves. And then it dawned 

 upon me. 



"My friend," I said, "surely this is not your 

 house ; you used to live upon the hillside. Have 

 you moved and come to live upon the sea front ?" 



