Chapter X

“_A tiny baby in the hood_” ]

The holidays over, everything went on as usual. AH-NI-GHI´-TO took walks with her mother and some of the Eskimos nearly every day. Once in climbing a steep slope of hard snow AH-NI-GHI´-TO began to slip and could not stop herself. It was very far to the bottom and she was badly frightened, but one of the Eskimo boys ran to her, and digging his feet into the hard snow far enough to catch his heels and keep himself steady, he held on to her until she too had made a place in the snow for her heels. Then together they carefully picked their way off the slippery slope to where the snow was soft and their feet sank into it.

“_Such little flat noses_”
]

Another time they walked farther than they intended, and the moon went behind the clouds, leaving it quite dark. In taking a short cut they came to a slope which, in the dim light, looked as if it were not very steep, and they decided to sit down and slide; but no sooner was AH-NI-GHI´-TO seated than away she shot out of sight, the others following her so quickly that no one was able to give the warning. It was a good thing that there was a bed of soft snow at the bottom, into which the youngsters tumbled.

There was a little daylight every day after January 15th, yet the sun did not really shine on the “Windward” until February 21st.

The days kept getting longer and longer; that is, the sun rose earlier and set later each day until on March 21st, Spring’s opening, he shone from 6 o’clock in the morning until 6 o’clock in the evening and there was daylight all night long. Strange to say, it was now very much colder than it had been while it was dark. But no one minded the cold as long as the sun shone.

The Eskimos from across Smith Sound came oftener to visit the ship, and every time they brought AH-NI-GHI´-TO either fur mittens or stockings or kamiks; and what pleased her most, numbers of children came with them. She wrote:

“_I shall get Billy to wash them_”
]

“When Achatinǵwah and I came in from coasting to-day, we found eight
sledges with Eskimos had come over from Etah, and oh, there are so
many children I know we are going to have a good time.

“Three of the women have tiny babies in their hoods. One of them was
brought to the mother just before she started for the ship. It is
much uglier than the others. Its head wobbles back and forth against
its mother’s bare shoulder. She carries it all naked, except for a
little tight fur cap and a short fox-skin shirt, in a hood on her
back right next her bare skin, which helps keep it warm. Its eyes
are never open, and it makes me think of a young kitten.

“The other two must be older, for they can hold up their heads, and
they have their eyes open all the time when they are awake.

“When the mothers want to feed them they take the little naked
things out of the hoods, without covering them—right out on deck in
the cold, and the babies don’t seem to mind it at all. Then there
are some little boys. I shall get Billy to wash them to-morrow so I
can play with them.

“They all have black hair and big black eyes and white teeth and
such little flat noses, and they wear the funniest little short
trousers made of bear-skin, with tiny fur-lined boots and big
fox-skin coats. I could laugh every time I look at them.

“_Funny little bear-skin trousers_”
]

“Achatinǵwah told me all about the sun and moon to-day. Ever so many
years ago, longer than the oldest Eskimos can remember, a girl ran
out of an igloo with a piece of lighted moss in her hand. Her
brother ran after her with a larger piece of moss. They ran so long
they ran right up into the sky, where the girl became the moon and
her brother the sun. Isn’t it funny? We say there is a man in the
moon; the Eskimos think it is a girl.”