FROM THILE TO HUMBOLDT'S GLACIER 



man called " The Little Throat " ; she had been married to him 

 for several years. But this was when the white men only fit- 

 fully visited " The Land of Men," and when guns and the other 

 implements for the daily catch were unknown. The use of the 

 kayak had been forgotten, and now one camped near the bird- 

 mountains during the summer when the sea was open. It 

 happened not infrequently that there was a famine during the 

 winter, for one must gather many Sea-kings before one could 

 lay in a store large enough to see one safely through the Polar 

 night. 



On one occasion, when there had been a poor hunt and 

 everybody was hungry, "The Little Throat" suddenly disap- 

 peared from the stone hut. It was no longer good to be there. 

 But, strangely enough, the whole stock of puppies disappeared 

 at the same time, and this aroused Simigaq's suspicions. She 

 went to the mountains and tracked down her man, who sat 

 gorging himself on the puppies, which he had roasted on a 

 flat stone. 



The annoying part was not so much the fact that the puppies, 

 which should have hauled their sledges on their journeys next 

 spring, were killed, but rather the circumstance that "The 

 Little Throat" had deceitfully eaten them alone, without 

 asking his beautiful woman to share in the feast. Naturally 

 this led to a divorce. Thus " The Corked-up One " had again 

 passed from hand to hand for some time until she had married 

 Kajok, called "The Yellow One," with whom she had lived 

 happily until his death. 



And now this weather-worn and hardened old woman, who 

 had lived such a life of good and evil, was sitting at my head, 

 wanting me to share the benefit of her experiences, the result 

 of her long life. On a long journey it would be as well to be 

 on good terms with the spirits that rule over mountains and 

 abysses; the loneliness also had its powers, of which puny man 

 must beware. Therefore she came to me this last night with 

 a few magic songs. 



Oh, she said, these magic songs were poor and insignificant, 

 a collection of short, meaningless words. But what about that? 



39 



