made ready generally for the long, terrible 

 winter. 



After this, for six weeks, we, the teachers, 

 were obliged to be pupils and learn the native 

 names of things. As the dialect of these Mahle- 

 miuts differs somewhat from that of other Es- 

 kimos in Alaska, what I had previously learned 

 helped me but little. 



The people of this island — who are all one large 

 family, much related, which has lived here for 

 many generations — were now leaving their sum- 

 mer tents and moving into their igloos, or winter 

 houses, vvhich are largely underground, and are 

 entered through a short tunnel. These habita- 

 tions were much warmer than the schoolhouse. 



The first of these winter houses to wliich I took 

 my wife "to call," was that of Koogak, the 

 hunter, who lived near us and had five children. 

 He had come voluntarily to help me in banking 

 my house and putting vip the school-bell, and we 

 had become well acquainted. After creeping 

 tllrol^gh the entranceway, which was no more 

 than four feet high, we found ourselves in a cir- 

 cular space, which had low bunks about the 

 greater part of it, and in the center of which a 

 large oil lamp was burning. 



Koogak's wife had just brought in from their 

 outer storehouse a piece of fat, raw walrus flesh, 

 as large as a ham, from which she was cutting 

 small chunks and feeding two little girls — quaint, 

 cliunky infants, who, on catching sight of me, 

 hid behind some skins hung up around the walls. 



A boy whom tliey called Moosu (Bubby) rushed 

 forward and shook hands with Mrs. GambelL 

 somewhat to her astonishment. He had learned 

 that shaking hands is the American mode of 

 greeting, and wished to be polite. 



The mother laughed much and repeated over 

 and over again her few English words. Soon 

 another boy came in whose name his father told 

 us was Heezy-Cry. For a long time we could 

 not guess what name was meant, and my wife 

 was much shocked on learning that Heezy-Cry 

 was their pronunciation of the name of the Sav- 

 iour. I mention this to show that they attached 

 as little meaning to sacred words as to oaths. 



Another near neighbor was Neewak. He lived 

 in a large house with two Shamans, called Tool- 

 luk and Aabwook, and had no other family. 

 These "medicine-men" claimed that they had, 

 two months before, saved Neewak's life. Ac- 

 cording to the code prevailing there his life was 

 therefore theirs, and he must work to support 

 them. It was as if a family physician, after cur- 

 ing a patient of fever, should come to his house 

 to board for the rest of his life. If the patient 

 refused to settle, the "doctor" would bewitch 

 him, "steal his heart" and fill him with evil 

 spirits. The shamans are all great rascals, and 

 like some other rascals in other countries, they 

 contrive to live on the fat of the land. 



Calling on our Mahlemiut neighbors would 

 have been more agreeable if the odors inside their 

 igloos had been less terrible; my wife could en- 



