The San Francisco call., 1899-04-09
OWNS TEN WIVES
NND a GLASS WINDOW
Rapid Rise Of the Richest Native of GreeDloDd and
How He Became the Vanderbilt Of
Judnshddb

tom, 1t came to pass that she set forth
to kill the child.
The widow set forth to kill her babe
as she had seen other widows do in her
time. She was of the age when hus-
band Is necessary for sustenance. She
could not work because young women
did not labor save for their lords And
she could not marry with child, be-
cause no man would take her thus bur
dened 1t was meet and right and the
law of custom to Kill her babe
How Kor-ko-ya Won His First Wife.
The trodden snow about the igloos held
the greater part of the village when she
started on her errand. There were sor-
rowing faces and some of the spectators
beat their breasts as they watched her
thread the narrow ways. She was comely
Of feature, but grief made her old, and as
she staggered on hugging the tiny bundle
in her arms she seemed as a stranger to
the spectators.
Kor-ko-ya's igloo was on the outskirts
of the village. AS the widow passed it
he appeared and gazed into her face. Then
he stopped her.
"Lutangwa," he said simply, will you
make an igloo with me?"
Those who heard marveled. An Eskimo
never asks woman to marry him; it is
he who grants the favor. And Lutangwa
was not bargain. Her teeth were rather
scant. and she had suffered with trouble
at one time. Then, to make it more Won
derful, Korko-ya was a hunter whose
fame growing. And he had. some
blubber and bear meat already stored in
the ice nearby.
The widow nodded Her stupefaction
was too great for words. After a mo-
ment she recalled her errand and started
to move away, but Kor-ko-ya stopped her
again.
Where is Lutangwa going?" he
asked
The woman made a gesture toward the
child in her arms. Then she looked up at
the stolid Eskimo with all her mother
love reflected in her face. She had no hope
that the rigorous custom would be broken
for her sake but the babe was her all.
Come with me, Lutangwa." said Kor-
ko-ya.
But my child"
Kor-ko-ya took her by the arm and led
her to his igloo, into which they disap-
peared. There was no comment made by
the spectators. They doubted the testi-
mony of their eyes, and it was not until
they saw Lutangwa installed with the
sucking babe in the skin pouch at her
back that they realized the truth
From that time what Kor-ko-ya did
was accepted as inspired. When he built
hut of stone and moss instead of ice
his neighbors considered 1t was all right
for him. When he made a tube of bits
of stray wood and inserted 1t in the roof
for the purpose of ventilation they COM
mented not, but when, in time, he bought
a cabin window from an ice-bound whaler,
paying for it many fox and reindeer skins,
and placed it in the wall of his igloo, the
news spread far and wide that Kor-ko-ya
was dead and that the soul of white
mans devil had come in his place.
But he continued on in the tenor Of his
way and hunted and flshed and saved and
waxed rich. AS the years passed his
fame spread and men came from beyond
the water to see his riches and to step in
side his hut to look out through the glass
window and to go outside to look in.
He became well known to the hardy
whalers, and to-day his dOings form a
subject of comment and interest in more
than one country. And this why the
news that he had placed another window
in his house was carried Iever 1000 miles o
ice and water to be discussed over pipC
and ale in dozen civilized seaports.