AT THE EDGE OF THE ICE 



is your husband ?) nearly always brought the answer 

 " Sinamut aigivok " (he is off to the edge of the ice 

 again). That is the hunting-place that the Eskimos 

 love, the edge of the ocean ice, where the seals 

 sport in the chilly water or clamber on the ice 

 to rest. Sometimes, when sudden sickness has 

 called me into the village in the small hours of 

 the morning, I have heard the scufflings and yelp- 

 ings of dogs, and have seen dim and shadowy men, 

 dressed in sealskin clothes, trotting down the track 

 among the hummocks towards the sea ice, off to the 

 sina." 



When I talked about the sina to big Gustaf 

 he simply said " We go, eh ? Start at four : I will 

 wake you up," taking it for granted that if I 

 went at all I would do it in proper Eskimo style. 

 As this was more or less of a pleasure trip I made 

 a sort of compromise with good Gustaf s ideas on 

 the subject, and the clock was well on towards five 

 before I met him on the doorstep. 



I was fortified with a good breakfast of bacon 

 and eggs eggs kept in waterglass since the ship 

 brought them last summer but Gustaf would have 

 none. "No," he said, "I shall eat by-and-by"; 

 and from what I had seen of Eskimo mealtimes I 

 imagined him disposing of several pounds of seal- 

 meat and a pint or two of weak tea when the day's 

 work was done. 



Nevertheless I saw that he was chewing, pensively 

 chewing with a steady champ, champ, champ, as he 

 disentangled the dogs from one another. 



" What are you chewing ? " said I. 



"Koak" (frozen), answered Gustaf; and he went 

 on to tell me that he had got a mouthful of frozen 



217 



