THE WHITE WORLD 



off, giving him an extra amount of hardbread and tobacco. 

 A long time afterward he told us that he was not hurt at 

 all but that he " chuck-a-looed " (lied) to us and said that 

 he thoroughly enjoyed deceiving the white man, or words 

 to that effect. We christened him " Chuck-a-loo." 



As a general thing the Eskimo do not lie to one another, 

 or steal from one another. If they be away from home 

 and run short of provisions they will help themselves to 

 any meat cache which they may chance to find, just as 

 the graziers of cattle on the Western plains slay their 

 neighbor's fatted calf, if away from their own and in need 

 of food. During the first fall, when our quartermaster and 

 commissary stores were strewed along the beach, these 

 natives were very honest with us. They had then a fine 

 opportunity to steal, but, strange to say, not one article 

 was stolen. But as soon as our goods were housed and 

 a lock put upon the door it was not safe to leave anything 

 outside. We were annoyed at first by their petty thefts. 

 When we brought them to task and charged some one of 

 their number with stealing, he denied it, but intimated 

 that such and such a one was a bad man and that probably 

 he did the stealing. We found a bright, honest and truth- 

 ful boy and christened him " Pinkerton." Through him 

 we found out every thief in the village. Ez-e-ki-ah was 

 his name, but if he were called by that name he would not 

 respond, and if asked why he did not answer he would say 

 " Wung-a Ez-e-ki-ah pe-juk, wung-a at-kar Pinkerton " 

 (I am not Ez-e-ki-ah, my name is Pinkerton). 



The Eskimo made very little effort to learn our language 

 but seemed anxious that we should learn theirs. They 

 wanted to speak to us and to be spoken to. They were 

 inquisitive, but showed neither surprise nor admiration 

 when we exhibited and explained white men's inventions. 

 They were intensely fond of looking at the illustrated 

 magazines and papers. They have very active minds, 

 learning readily and remembering everything which they 

 have seen or heard. When we asked them about anything 

 of which they had no knowledge, they would say " I tu, 

 wunga la nu gagah " ( don't know, I never heard). The 

 Eskimo have great difficulty in pronouncing English words 

 and perhaps this is the reason that they did not take an 



