A SEALSKIN JACKET AT HOME 295 



winter. They are beautiful little Seals, with dull 

 yellow skins, often handsomely mottled with black, 

 such as they cover trunks with in my country ; and 

 among the Greenlanders it is said the women love 

 the skin above all others for making trousers." 



" Do savage women there wear trousers, the same as 

 some women do here when they ride bicycles ? " asked 

 Dodo, much to her uncle's amusement. 



"I have not seen those savages here," said Olaf; 

 " but up in the north land women must dress much like 

 men, or they would surely freeze. 



" The Harbor Seal cow has a gentle, half -human face, 

 and a better heart than the Fur Seal. She is a kind 

 mother also to her single cub, protecting and loving it, 

 and grieving if it dies. These seals are shy beasts, too, 

 and are never caught in great numbers, even though 

 their flesh makes the best seal beef. They lead lonely 

 but happy lives, catching sea-birds and Ashing and 

 sporting in the water with their families. 



" Now we will leave these watermen and hurry back 

 home across country lest the ' Day-Dream Fox ' grows 

 sleepy and the real Dream Fox finds us far from home, 

 and we have to lie out in the snow like the Polar 

 Bear." 



Then Olaf blushed and looked down, as there was 

 a clapping of hands and everybodj' thanked him for his 

 story. 



" It will be my turn to clap at you to-morrow night," 

 he said bashfully to Nez. 



" I didn't think the watermen would be half so inter- 

 esting," said Rap ; " and it's almost ten o'clock already." 



" We must light the tree once more, have our supper 



