The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-26

ter than the old soapstone affairs, hint
and steel and even matches, colored rib
bons for the women's hair. ipttle cheap
mirrors and red cloth for the edSing OF
deerskin dress Jackets Kadlu traded
the rich, creamy-twisted narwhal morn
and musk OK teeth Chese are just as
valuable as pearls) to the southern
Inuit, and they in turn traded with the
whalers and the missionary posts OF
Exeter and Cumberland sounds, and so
the chain went on till a kettle picked up
by ships cook in the Bheudy bazaar
might end its days over blubber lamp
somewhere on the cool side of the arctic
circle.
Kadlu, being good hunter, was rich
in iron harpoons, snow knives, bird
darts and all other things that make
life easy up there in the great cold, and
he was the head of his tribe, or, as they
say, "the man who knows all about 1t
by practice" This did not give him any
authority, except now and then he
could advise his friends to change their
hunting grounds, but Ketuko used 1t to
domineer a little, in the lazy, fat lnuit
fashion, over the other boys when they
came out at night to play ball In the
moonlight or to sing the childS' song to
the Aurora Borealis.
But at fourteen an Inuit feels himself
a man, and Kotuko was tired of making
snares for wild fowls and kit foxes, and
most tired of all of helping the women
to chew seal and deer skins Chat
makes them supple as nothing else CAM
the long day through while the men
We're out hunting. He wanted to go
into the quaggi. the singing house
when the hunters gathered there for
their mysferies, and the angekok, the
sorcerer, frightened them into the most
delightful fits after the lamps were put
out and you could hear the spirit of the
reindeer stamping upon the roof, and
when a spear was thrust out into the
open black night 1t came back COW
cred with hot blood. He wanted to
throw his big boots into the net with
the tired air of head Of a family, and
he wanted to gamble with the hunters
when they, dropped in of an evening to
play sort of homemade roulette with
tin pot and nail. There were hun
dreds of things that he wanted to do
but the grown men laughed at him ana
said: "Wait till you have been in the
buckle, Kotuko. Hunting is not all
fatr'
Now that his father had named a
puppy for him, things looked brighter.
An Inut does not waste a good dog on
his son till the boy knows something OF
dog driving; and Kotuko was more
than sure that he knew more than ev-
erythlng.
If the puppy had not had an iron con-
stitTtion he would have died from over
stuffing and overhauling. kotuko made
him a tiny harness with a. trace to At
and hauled him all over the house
floor, shouting: 'HAua! ia aua! (Go to
the rightD ,Choiachoi! ia choiachoi!
(Go to the leftD Ohaha! (Stop." The
puppy did not like 1t at all. but be-
ing fished for in this way was pure
happiness beside being put to the sleigh
for the first time. He just sat down
on the snow and played with the seal
hide trace that ran from his harness
to the pitu, the big thong in the boks
of the sleigh. Then the team started
and the puppy found the heavy ten
foot sleigh running up his back ana
dragging him along the snow, Wnile
Kotuko laughed till the tears ran down
his face. Then there followed days and
days of the cruel whip that misses like
the wind over ice, and his companions
all bit him because he did not know
his work, and thefharness chafed him,
and he was not allowed to sleep with
Katuko any more. but had to take
the coolest place in the passage. 1t
was sad time for the puppy. The boy
learned too, as fast as the dog; and a
dog sleigh is heart breaking thing to
manage. Each beast is harnessed-
the weakest nearest to the driver-by
his separate trace, which runs under his
left fore leg to the main thong, where
it is fastened by a sort of button and
loop which can be slipped by turn of
the wrist, thus freeing one dog at q
time. This is very necessary, because
young dogs often get the trace between
their hind legs, where 1t cuts to the
m. oil xt.ttl no
itlng their friends as they run, jump
ing in and out among the traces. Then
they fight and the result is more mixed
than a wet fishing line next morning.
A great deal of trouble can be avoided
by scientific use of the whip. Every
Inuit boy pridcs himself as being a
master of the long lash; but 1t is easy
to flick at a mark on the ground, and
difficult to lean forward and catch a
Sinking dog just behind the shoulders
when the sleigh is going at full speed.
If you call one dogs name for "Vis-
iting" and accidentally lash another
the two will fight at once and stop all
the ,others.- Again, if You travel with
a companion and begin to talk. or by
yourself and sing, the dogs will halt,
turn around and sit down to hear what
you have to say. Kotuko was run
away from once or twice by forgetting
to block the sleigh when he stopped, and
ne broke many 1ashings and ruined
few thongs before he could be trusted
with a fun team of eight and a light
sleigh. Then he felt himself person of
consequence, and on smooth, black ice,
with bold heart and a quick elbow,
he smoked along over the levels as fast
as pack in full cry. He would go
twenty miles to the seal holes, and
when he was on his hunting ground
he would twitch trace loose from the
was the cleverest dog in the team. AS
soon as the dog had scented breathing
hole Kotuko would reverse the sleigh,
driving couple of sawed-off antlers
that stuck up like perambulator handles
from the back rest deep into the snow,
so that the team could not get away.
Then he would crawl forward inch by
inch and wait till the seal came up to
breathe. Then he stabbed down swiftly
with his spear and running line, and
presently would. haul his seal up to the
lip Of the ice while the black leader
came up and helped to pull the car
.cass across the ice to the sleigh. That
was the time when the .harnessed dogs
yelled and foamed with excitement, and
Kotuko laid the. long lash like red
hot bar across all their faces till the
carcass froze stiff. Going home was the
heavy work. The loaded sleigh had to
be humored among the rough ice, and
the dogs sat down and looked hungrily
at the seal instead of pulling. At last
they would strike the well-worn sleigh
road to the village and toodle kiyi along
the ringing Ice, heads down and tails UP
while Kotuko struck up the "Angu
tivun ta'l-na tau-na ne?taina," the song
of the returning hunter. and voices
hailed him from house to house under
all that dim, star-litten cold.
When Kotuko, the dog, came to his
full growth he enjoyed himself. too.
He fought his way up the team steadi-
ly, fight after fight, till one fine eve