SEAL-BLOOD SOUP. 



165 



purpose. They were being used simply for cutting off strips of 

 seal, to be shoved into the widely-extended mouths of the hungry 

 people before me. Quite at the back of the tent I perceived my 

 Esquimaux friend Koojesse seated between two pretty females, 

 all three engaged in doing full justice to a dish of smoking-liot seal- 

 Mood! Seeing me, Koojesse at first seemed abashed ; but, on my 

 expressing a readiness to partake of any food they had to spare, 

 one of the women immediately drew forth from the stew-pan about 

 four inches of seal vertebras, surrounded by good meat. I man- 

 aged to eat the latter, and then determined to try the seal-blood. 

 To my surprise, I found it excellent. 



" On first receiving the dish containing this Esquimaux stew, I 

 hesitated. It had gone the round several times, being replenish- 

 ed as occasion required ; but its external appearance was not at 

 all inviting. Probably it had never gone through the cleaning 

 process, for it looked as though such were the case. But I screw- 

 ed up courage to try it, and finally, when the dish again came to 

 those by my side, I asked Koojesse, £ Pe-e-uke?' (Is it good?) 

 * Armelarng, armelarng' (Yes, yes), was the reply. 



" All eyes were fixed upon me as I prepared to join with them 

 in drinking some of their favorite soup. 



"Now the custom of Esquimaux in drinking seal-blood is to 

 take one long s-o-o-o-p — one mouthful, and then pass the dish on 

 to the rest till the round is made. I followed suit, and, to my as- 

 tonishment, found the mixture not only good, but really excel-' 

 lent. I could not have believed it was so far superior to what 

 my previous notions had led me to expect. 



" Seeing I was pleased with it, she who presided at the feast in- 

 stantly made ready a pretty little cup, which was clean outside 

 and in, or as clean as an Esquimaux can make it, and filled it 

 with the hot seal-blood. This I sipped down with as much satis- 

 faction as any food I had eaten in my life ; and, in return for the 

 friendly act of my Innuit hostess, I gave her a highly-colored cot- 

 ton handkerchief. She was in ecstasies with it, and the whole 

 company joined with her in expressions of kindness and good- 

 will toward me. Clearly I had ingratiated myself with one party 

 of the natives here, and this I was determined to do in like man- 

 ner elsewhere. 



" Soon afterward I left them, and, crawling out of their tent on 

 all-fours, passed through the village toward the beach. On the 

 way I heard a voice calling out ' Mitter Hall — Mitter Hall and, 



