512 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann.is 



as her husbaud drew liis kaiak upon the shore she cast her sealskin into 

 the water and leaped after it. Her husband saw this with alarm, and 

 ran quickly to the top of a hill to see what had become of his wife. He 

 saw lier sitting upon the extended sealskin, which was supported at 

 each corner by a bladder, floating- rapidly away from the shore, for when 

 the woman leaped into the sea, the sealskin she threw in had suddenly 

 opened out and a float api)eared at each corner. This caught her upon 

 its surface and held her up safely. Very soon after she began to float 

 away a storm arose and night shut her from her husband's sight, and 

 he went home scolding angrily, blaming every one but himself for his 

 loss. 



On and on floated the woman, seated on the magic sealskin, and for 

 several days no land could be seen. She used all her food, but still 

 she floated on until it became unbroken night. After a time she became 

 so exhausted that she fell asleep, and was awakened by several sharp 

 shocks and could hear the waves breaking on a pebbly shore. Eealiz- 

 ing this, she began to try to save herself; so she stepped from the seal- 

 skin and was greatly pleased to find herself standing on a beach made 

 up of small rounded objects, into which her feet sank ankle deep at 

 every step. 



These round objects made her curious, so she stopped and picked up 

 two handfuls of them, putting them in her food dish, after which she 

 went slowly on into the deej) blackness. Before she had gone far she 

 came to a house, and, feeling along its side, found the entrance and 

 went in. The i^assageway was dimly lighted by an oil lamp, showing 

 many deerskins piled on one side, and on the other were pieces of flesh 

 and bags of whale and seal oil. When she entered the house there 

 were two oil lamps burning, one on each side of the room, but no one 

 was at home. Over one of the lamps hung a piece of seal fat, and over 

 the other a piece of reindeer fat, from which the oil dropped and fed 

 the flames, and in one corner of the room was a deerskin bed. 



She entered and sat down, waiting for what would come to her. At 

 last there was a noise in the entrance way, and a man said, " I smell 

 strange people." Then the man came into the room, frightening the 

 woman very badly, for his face and hands were coal black. He said 

 nothing, but crossed the room to his bed, where, after stripping the 

 upper part of his body, he toiok a tub of water and washed himself. 

 The woman was relieved to see that his chest was as white as her 

 own. While sitting here she saw a dish of some cooked flesh suddenly 

 placed inside the door by an unseen person, from which the man helped 

 his guest and then took his own meal. When tliey had done eating he 

 asked her how she came there, and she told him her story. He told 

 her "not to feel badlyj and went out and brought in a number of deer- 

 skins, telling her to make clothing from them for herself and her child, 

 for she had kept her child safely upon her bacli all the time. When 

 she told him that she had no needle, he brought her one of copper, 



