Chapter I: Front Matter

[Transcriber's Note: Bold text is surrounded by =equal signs= and italic text is surrounded by _underscores_.]

Our Little Eskimo Cousin

The Little Cousin Series

_ILLUSTRATED_

BY MARY HAZELTON WADE

=Our Little Japanese Cousin=
=Our Little Brown Cousin=
=Our Little Indian Cousin=
=Our Little Russian Cousin=
=Our Little African Cousin=
=Our Little Cuban Cousin=
=Our Little Hawaiian Cousin=
=Our Little Eskimo Cousin=
=Our Little Philippine Cousin=
=Our Little Porto Rican Cousin=
=Our Little Swiss Cousin=
=Our Little Norwegian Cousin=
=Our Little Siamese Cousin=
=Our Little Italian Cousin=
=Our Little Irish Cousin=
=Our Little Turkish Cousin=
=Our Little German Cousin=
=Our Little Jewish Cousin=

BY ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND

=Our Little Chinese Cousin=

BY ELIZABETH ROBERTS MACDONALD

=Our Little Canadian Cousin=

Each volume illustrated with six full-page plates
in tint, from drawings by L. J. Bridgman.

Cloth, 12mo, with decorative cover, per volume,
60 cents.

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
New England Building, Boston, Mass.

Our Little Eskimo Cousin

By
Mary Hazelton Wade

_Illustrated by_
L. J. Bridgman

Boston
L. C. Page & Company
_MDCCCCII_

_Copyright, 1902_
By L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
(INCORPORATED)

_All rights reserved_

Published, June 1902

Colonial Press
Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.
Boston, Mass., U. S. A.

Preface

IT is a very wonderful thing, when we stop to think of it, that no matter where we are placed in this great round world of ours, it seems just right to us.

Far away in the frozen north, where the lovely aurora borealis dances in the sky, where the long sunless winter night stretches halfway across the year, live a people who cannot keep themselves alive without working very hard. Yet they are happy and fun-loving. They _make_ pleasures for themselves. They are patient and joyous in the midst of darkness and storm. They do not think of complaining at their hard lot, or that they do not live where Nature is kinder and more generous.

We call them Eskimos. They belong to another race than ours,--a different branch of the great human family. They are yellow and we are white, to be sure. But we know that, no matter how far away any race of people lives, and no matter how different these people may be from us in looks and habits, they and we belong to the same great family. It includes every race and every colour, for we are the children of one Father.

What a pleasure it is, therefore, to travel from place to place and see more of the life of others! But suppose we cannot journey with our bodies; we need not stay at home on that account. Let us use the wings of the mind, and without trouble or expense visit the hot lands and the cold, the yellow children and the red. Let us know them and learn what they can teach us.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE
I. BABY DAYS 9
II. MOTHER AND CHILD 18
III. PLAY-DAYS 28
IV. DOG TEAM AND SLEDGE 38
V. KAYAK AND HARPOON 49
VI. THE SEAL HUNT 63
VII. FEAST AND FUN 74
VIII. HARD TIMES 80
IX. AN ESKIMO CHRISTMAS 91
X. SUMMER TRAVELS 97

List of Illustrations

PAGE
ETU _Frontispiece_
"HE WHO HITS THE GREATEST NUMBER WINS THE GAME" 31
"ETU HAD BECOME QUITE SKILFUL" 41
"WHIZZ! SOUNDS THE HARPOON AS IT SPEEDS FROM ETU'S SHOULDER" 67
"ETU STOPPED MOVING AND LAY QUITE STILL" 89
"THE BLOCKS OF SNOW WERE HANDED TO THEM" 98

Our Little Eskimo Cousin