THE HOME-COMING 



Mission house and hospital supplied all through the 

 winter. 



Another effect of the freezing of the sea was that 

 the people began to make their way home to the 

 village. All day long some one or other was on the 

 watch, and the cry of "Kemmutsit" (a sledge) brought 

 every able-bodied person tumbling out of doors to 

 greet the new arrivals. Some of the travellers had 

 only come a mile or two, and the dogs trotted up to 

 their well-known homes all fresh and frisky ; others 

 had been on the road most of the day, and their dogs 

 were footsore and worn out; it was their first time 

 in harness after the summer and autumn of idleness, 

 and they panted and struggled and whined with 

 weariness, though a few weeks later the same dogs 

 would be doing sixty or seventy miles at a stretch 

 without any trouble. 



Every new comer had the same question to 

 answer " How many seals have you caught ? " That 

 was the measure of a man's greatness for the time 

 being; and it was amusing to see some of them 

 swaggering about because they had got twice as 

 many seals as last year. One man had seventy- 

 seven, a truly splendid catch ; and this, compared 

 with the average of fifteen or so that usually came 

 his way, was enough to turn his head, and set him 

 bragging of his skill, and of the marvellous things 

 he would do with his wealth. I remember hearing 

 that one of his ambitions was to lay in a stock of 

 tinned mutton, so that he could feed on a higher 

 plane than his neighbours, who must, perforce, be 

 satisfied with seal meat. 



By the middle of December the village looked 



fairly busy, and instead of a mere handful of work- 



62 



