CHAPTER XIV 



TRAVELS AFTER THE SUN CAME BACK 



Although Sten had been whaling in the Arctic for 

 something like fifteen years, he had always lived on 

 ships in winter or in their vicinity and had never been 

 short of groceries. The supplies I had secured for him 

 in the fall by the boat trip to Herschel Island had nearly 

 given out, so he asked me to take his dog team and fetch 

 a load of groceries which he thought Captain Leavitt 

 would sell him. The reason why he could not go him- 

 self was that he had been troubled the last year with 

 epilepsy and did not dare to take chances on traveling. 

 I was willing to make the trip but preferred to do so two 

 or three weeks later. Accordingly, I remained behind at 

 Shingle Point while Ovayuak's party continued west. 



There was now staying with Roxy's family an Eskimo 

 named Kanirk, a name that may be translated into Eng- 

 lish as "Hilltop." The whalers, who had no idea of the 

 meaning of the word, had apparently found in the sound 

 of it a suggestion of a well-known English word and had 

 called him "Cockney." When first I heard it I took it 

 to be a nickname but Captain Leavitt told me later that 

 it was merely a careless pronunciation of what the 

 whalers believed to be his real name. 



Apart from men who are students of languages, it is 

 the general habit of those whites who come in contact 

 with Eskimos or Indians to pronounce any words they 

 hear, and especially the names of people and places, so 



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