MARTIN'S FIRST SEAL 



safely into the world, and dressed him in his first 

 clothes. Surely she shall have a share of Martin's 

 first seal and, besides, it is a custom of the people. 

 The blubber he will sell at the store to-morrow, and 

 that will be the first money he has earned at the seal 

 hunt : ilia, he is very proud and thankful. Now he 

 shall go with me to the sina every day, except when 

 he must stay at home and chop firewood for his 

 mother, for he is a good boy, ernera-una; and he 

 will catch seals often, and learn to be as fine a hunter 

 as his father better, perhaps, for my eyes are not as 

 good as they were. And soon, when I am an itok 

 (old man) and his mother is a ningiok (old woman) 

 he will go alone to the hunt and bring seals every 

 day, and I shall stop at home and chop the firewood ; 

 and he will have a wife to help the ningiok scrape 

 the skins, and the kittorngakulluit (little children) 

 will play about the floor. But I still have nukke 

 (sinews) : I will go to the sina to-morrow, and he 

 will chop wood. And the skin? The skin of 

 Martin's first seal ? Ilia, issumaminik, it was quite 

 his own idea. We had been reading how the people 

 of Israel used to give the first-fruits to God, and 

 Martin thought he would like to do that with the 

 first seal he had ever caught ; so he took the skin to 

 the missionary, and that is how you saw him 

 yesterday." 



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