At last the leading kaiaks shoot into the little bight in front of the village. They are those who have no seals. Lightly and with assured aim one after the other dashes up on the flat beach, carried high upon the crest of the waves. The women stand ready to receive them and to draw them farther up.
Then come those who have seals in tow; they must proceed somewhat more cautiously. First, they cast loose their prey and see that it comes to the hands of the women on shore. Then they themselves make for the land. When once they have got out of the kaiak they, like the first comers, pay no heed to anything but themselves and their weapons, which they carry to their places above high-water mark. They do not even look at their prey as it lies on the shore. From this time forward all work in connection with the "take" falls to the share of the women.
The men go to their homes, take off their wet clothes, and put on their indoor dress, which, as we have seen, was in the heathen times exceedingly airy, but has now become more visible.
Then at last comes the first meal of the day; but it does not begin in earnest till the day's "take" is boiled and served up in a huge dish placed in the middle of the floor. Then there disappear incredible quantities of flesh and raw blubber.
When hunger is appeased, the women always set themselves to some household work, sewing or the like, while the men give themselves up to well-earned laziness, or attend a little to their weapons, hang up the harpoon line to dry, and so forth.
| NATURE'S TRIUMPH. |
By JAMES RODWAY, F. L. S.
IN the temperate regions of the world man overcomes Nature, but in the tropics he makes little or no impression. The Indian has lived in the great forest of South America for ages, yet hardly a trace of his presence can be found. The ordinary traveler sees no sign of him for perhaps a hundred miles, and would be inclined to say that nothing but a desolate wilderness had ever existed. Yet, if we believe the early travelers, the coast from the river Orinoco to the Amazon was once fairly well peopled. The powerful Carib—the savage of "Robinson Crusoe"—was guardian of the coast, and strong enough to repel every invasion of the Spaniard, while the gentle Arawak—"Man Friday" occupied the upper reaches of every little creek.
Even where the country is not deserted the Indian villages are still hid away in the virgin forest, the inhabitants and their palm-covered shelters harmonizing with everything around. Unlike
