SOFT SNOW 



wondered why the old missionaries used the word 

 " mauja " (soft snow), in their translation of Bunyan's 

 Pilgrim's Progress, to picture to Eskimo minds the 

 ! plight of the pilgrim when he got into the Slough 

 of Despond. What better word could they have 

 used for the clinging, sinking waste in which the 

 traveller's feet sank as he made his weary way 

 towards the wicket gate? What word more vivid 

 jthan "mauja" to a people who spend their lives 

 among the snow and ice and rocks of the frozen 

 Labrador ? 



It is surprising to find how soon the dogs forget 

 the "mauja." Once through it they are quite willing 

 to trot along at their usual five miles an hour, and 

 even after their ten and a half hours of labouring across 

 Nappartok Bay they were able to run the thirty miles 

 to Okak in good time and without any whipping. 

 Eskimo drivers do not believe in flogging tired dogs : 

 it only takes the spirit out of them, they say, and 

 though I have seen lazy dogs and sulky dogs and 

 jdisobedient and quarrelsome dogs I felt glad that the 

 men did not treat them cruelly : a dog's life is hard 

 jenough without that. The first thing was always to 

 shout at the dog" Tawny " or " Glove " or " Lamp " 

 or whatever its name happened to be ; and it was 

 amusing to see how the dog that heard its name 

 tightened up its trace and tried to efface itself by cross- 

 ing over to another place in the team. If it was only 

 i matter of laziness a word was enough, but when there 

 was a doggy quarrel afoot the reminder was soon for- 

 gotten and great hulking " Lamp " would soon be back 

 In his place, snapping at his neighbour's heels. Then 

 one driver would say to the other " Una-arluk " (that 



|"il creature), and without further ado he reached 

 147 



