AND KAYAK
65
rest of the population gathered in front of the village to watch.
on the slope
From our
point of view it was a relief to see the houses among the snow and rocks after
our cold day s travelling and to them it was the biggest excitement of the winter. You can imagine how they would shout when they first saw our sled the big team of dogs and the three men on the sled would be enough to tell them at once that it was a European. Presently we got within sound of their shout ;
;
Kablunak, Kablunak (European), they yelled, and their outbursts came boom Amalo, ing over the ice in the still evening air. amalo as each sled (another) they roared, came round the point and by the time we reached them and looked back along the track the thirteenth sled was just in sight, with its trotting little mannikin driver and its bunch of little black dots of dogs, and the excite ment was at fever pitch. There had never been anything like this before. Such a pro cession It was a sight to remember a long, "
ing
"
:
"
"
;
!
;
dull streak across the clean, bright snow, alive
with a
of crawling dots, the nearest easily distinguishable as men and dogs, shout ing and yelping and racing towards us, the furthest mere black specks almost seeming to
stand
series
still.
There was no mistake about the