V. Little Friends in Furs
Before they came to America to live, the English and Dutch people were great sailors and traders. If they heard of anything they wanted, in far-away lands, they sailed away in stout ships to get it. As soon as they had a few seaport towns in America, they built sailing vessels. They needed some things that they could not buy in England and Holland.
They needed oil for lamps. They had no gas. They had no electric lights that you turn on with little black buttons. They did not even have kerosene oil. They had only candles of tallow and wax, and not enough of those. In one place there was plenty of oil. Strong, brave men could go and get it without paying money. It was in the ocean. Would you ever think of looking for oil in the water?
The oil ships sailed north into cold, dark, stormy seas. Even in summer icebergs were all around them. The sun shone, day and night. It went 'round and 'round the sky in wide circles. Polar bears were on the ice. Swimming, yellow seal barked like dogs. Walrus showed their ivory tusks. Millions of eider ducks nested on the rocky shores. Whales spouted water when they came up to breathe. The oil ships had come for the whales. Under its rubbery skin the whale was wrapped in a thick blanket of fat. When it was melted this whale blubber made good oil for lamps.
The whaling ships had to hurry to get back home before winter. In the far north it was night all the time, in the winter. The sun did not shine at all. The ocean froze over. Sometimes the sailors staid too long and their ships froze fast, in the ice.
When this happened the sailors had to go on the land to live. The land was all ice and snow too, but there were people and warm houses. A village looked very queer. It was only a lot of dome-shaped mounds of snow. Rough dogs ran from low holes in the snow huts. They made such a noise that little furry heads popped out of the holes, too. If it had not been for their fat, human faces, the sailors might have thought these children were polar bear cubs. They were Es-qui-mos, a kind of small, brown Indians. They were good-natured and friendly. It was so cold that they had to wear the skins of animals. They had soft, warm stockings of eider duck
