286 FOUR-FOOTED AMERICANS 



hands wide apart and wrinkling his face as if he re- 

 membsred a very had smelL " Next to the oil in value, 

 comes the hide. When it is stretched and well dried 

 it makes a fine cover for boats, tliat is stronger to stand 

 the sharp-edged ice than any wood could be ; the hide 

 also serves to make harness for the Eskimo's sledge 

 dogs. The strong sinews of the back make thongs for 

 bird and fisla nets, boot laces, and thread for sewing 

 boat covers and clothes. The gullet or throat is used 

 for boot legs, with the flipper bottoms fitted on for 

 soles. The intestines, Avhich are perhaps sixty feet 

 long, are cut in strips, and when stretched and dried 

 are sewn together to make the waterproof clothing that 

 these people wear in tlieir fishing and hunting." 



" Oh, dear, how much the poor Eskimo women must 

 have to sew ! " murmured Dodo, " and what long seams ; 

 I've seen Clammy Ban take those wormy looking insides 

 out of a cliicken, and even they were ever so long ! " 



" The tusks, though of a poor quality of ivory, serve 

 many purposes, not the least of them being to trade 

 away for such iron and steel articles as the Eskimo 

 needs but cannot make. Now you can well understand 

 how he could not live long without the beast that yields 

 him so much. But greedy people, who have many other 

 ways to make a living, do not think of this, and fit out 

 steam vessels that can go everywhere, with guns that 

 kill from far, and take from the Eskimo liis all. 



" This Walrus is a first cousin to the Sea Bear or 

 Fur Seal of the jacket, and we must go down the 

 Behring Straits to catch him in his home. Down past 

 the St. Lawrence and St. JMatthew Islands, the Walrus' 

 summer haunts, we come to the Pribilof Islands, — St. 



