The sun., 1919-04-13
WHILE the CARIBOU MIGRATION IS on The
pwELLERS Of 5As ARCTIC Kill As :nAehT AIMlE1Ale
AL SLED IN eRsAT. MoUHbss sad tie ARCTIC coiD
PRESERVES THEM.
Meets Blind Man Who Blames At
Fiction to His Own Selfishness in
Violating Hunters Law

tographs taken and their heads meas
ured. as did nearly every one whom
we saw during our entire year in the
east.
We did not have TO go over eight
miles till we came to n camp Of FIVE
houses pitched on the ice about ten or
twenty yards from shore at the north
east corner of Simpson Bay. We were
engaged, with the help of some Of tho
local men. in pitching our tent about
two hundred yards from the village
when We noticed man, evidently
stone blind. come walking toward us,
feeling about with long cane as q
blind man does. Two or three children
stood watching him and kept warning
HIM of the tide cracks, which were
numerous here in the ice as they are
everywhere near shore.
The children kept shouting to him:
Turn 10 the right! Turn to the lefti
Again to the left! Now watch out for
tide crack" These cracks are dan
gerous to man who walks carelessly,
for they are often covered with snow
so as to be invisible and are wide
enough for mans foot to slip in,
with considerable danger not only Of a
bad fall but OF breaking bone. With
SIKH acquired through long blindness
he avoided the tide cracks deXterouslv
and walked straight up TO where the
children's voices told him that I was
| standing beside our sled unloading IL.
7 When he got near he told me that
he knew already who was and that
very likely I knew who he was FOR he
was a man SO much moro unfortunate
than other men that the story Of his
misfortune had travelled TO distant
places. No doubt I had heard the
story, he said. but nevertheless he
would tell 1t TO me himself SO that I
might know it from his own lips and
take warning from it and tell my
friends to do the same.
The Blind Mans story.
Many years ago his house had been
standing by itself some distance from
the village, but from where he stood
beside the seal hole watching for the
seal to come up he could see several
other hunters out sealing. The seal
when 1t came proved TO be a bearded
one, but being a strong man he had
been able to hold it and to kill il
without any assistance he had with
MS Ice pick enlarged the brcathip-
mole enough to pull the animal ovt
'lt was no mean feat seeing that a
bearded seal will weigh from 500 n
500 pounds) Up to this time he had
not thought OF the other hunters. biz.
now he looked around and saw that
they were all far away and while dis
tinctly visible, he felt sure that none
or them had any idea what kind OF A
seal he had caught. (The hunters law
does not require that the hunters
within sight he summoned to share
at the cutting up Of common small
sealo When a bearded seal is killed
all the hunters within view must he
called in 10 share the prize.
1t had occurred TO him that nv
keeping the thing secret (pv nre
tending this was common saaO he
night keep the animal to himself.
and especially the skin, for he knew
that he could sell pieces OF Il 10
heichhoring tribe who seldom catch
bearded seals for numerous arti-
clcs of value. Accordingly lie Sc
crety cut the animal up. gave
out tho story that he had ONLY
Killed small seal, and pledged
his wife To secrecy, but the story
,, leaked out as such stories will. PEG.
pie came to him and took away from
him both the skin and the meat and
reproached him bitterly. lie now re
pointed his act and felt crushed BY
the disapproval of his people. but his
punishment waS to he made even
heavier, for within year he becar
to lose his eyesiGht and in another
year he was stone blind. Since then
he poor miserable man. had been
bind and n charge upon the commu
nifty. Thus il was sure 10 go with
those who did wicked things: and
While no felt sure that 7 was a good
man. nevertheless 70 know his story
would do me no harm. and he wished
! would pass It on 10 others, warning
them TO avoid selfish ways.
! had never heard this tale before
but Natkus.ak told me later no had
heard it from the Eskimo we had been
with the previous summer. After thi.
occurrence. whenever We told that We
had visited this particular Village, We
were always asked whether we had
seen the blind man, and then the
| story would be repeated to us. exactly
as the blind man told II. to illustrate
how punishment comes TO those who
break the law.
! tcopyright BY TNhjaImm Stefanssonj