CHAPTER VII 



CHOOSING NAMES ESKIMO CHILDHOOD DOLLS SLEDGES AND DOGS 

 PUNTING ON THE ICE THE LITTLE HUNTER IN SCHOOL 



IN heathen times the Eskimos had heathen names, 

 and rare mouthfuls of the language some of the 

 names were, great unwieldy strings of letters, some- 

 times with a meaning, appropriate or otherwise, and 

 sometimes without. Among the heathen people who 

 have lately settled at Killinek, I found a boy and a 

 girl both called Nippisa, and I came across a little 

 girl whose parents knew her by the burdensome title 

 of Atataksoak (grandfather) 1 



The Christian Eskimos who people the Labrador 

 coast to-day have proper baptismal names, mostly 

 Biblical, such as Moses, Laban, Thomas, Miriam, 

 Sarah, and so on. This habit of choosing Bible 

 names seems a very fitting one among a people 

 reclaimed from heathenism ; it is a constant witness 

 and reminder of the change they profess and of the 

 God they serve. And I like those old Bible names 

 that I met among the Eskimos, for the people steer 

 clear of the long and difficult names, and choose 

 those that are simple and dignified and easy to 

 pronounce. 



I can well imagine that the large assortment of 

 Samuels and Labans and Michaels and Jonathans 

 to be found along the coast used to lead to some 

 confusion, and that is the reason why the Mission 

 ordained some years ago that the heads of the various 



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