THE STEPPING-STONES 



Tutjat," I thought, " the Stepping Stones " ; 

 and there flashed through my mind the old story 

 that the Eskimos tell, how their forefathers visited 

 the Innuit of the Far North long, long ago. 



They came along the coast, so runs the story, 

 to Killinek the End, or Limit, as the meaning of 

 the word is and crossed Gray's Strait in their skin 

 canoes. They travelled from one to the other of the 

 long chain of islands as they journeyed northward, 

 and called them Tutjat or Stepping Stones as a 

 memorial. 



It struck me that the name is a proof of the 

 truth of the old tale. The name remains, but the 

 story is half forgotten. 



Sometimes in an evening, when pipes are lit 

 and tongues are loosed, the Eskimos will talk of 

 those old times. They will tell how their ancestors 

 made this marvellous journey, and found a people 

 across the sea whose words they could understand : 

 Eskimos they were, and only different from the 

 Innuit of Labrador because they had lived apart 

 so long. 



And as we looked at the Button Islands, Bob 

 had a far-away look in his restless eyes. He ran 

 his fingers through his tumbled hair ; his face grew 

 eager ; he waved his pipe towards the north. " Yes," 

 he said, "those are the Tutjat ; those are the Tutjat. 

 I went there last autumn, and found plenty of seals. 

 I got a big walrus : I went after him in my kajak 

 (skin canoe), and I harpooned him. I chose him 

 because he was big : he had such fine tusks to make 

 new harpoons, and his skin was good and thick and 

 strong, and I wanted a new whip for the dogs. 

 Yes, those are the Tutjat, and I have been there. 



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