In Eskimo land, as in England, power and industry result in the elevation¹ and enrichment of individuals, though they have not yet resulted there, as here, in vast accumulations of wealth, or in class distinctions. The elevating tendency of superior power and practice is seen in the fact that while some hunters are nearly always pretty well off—“well-to-do,” as we would express it—others are often in a state of poverty and semi-starvation. A few of them possess two establishments, and some even go the length of possessing two wives. It is but just to add, however, that these last are rare. Most Eskimo men deem one wife quite as much as they can manage to feed.

 

Our friend Okiok was what we may style one of the aristocracy of the land. He did not, indeed, derive² his position from inheritance, but from the circumstance of his being a successful hunter, a splendid canoe-man, and a tremendous fighter.

 

When it is added that his fights were often single-handed against the Polar bear, it may be understood that both his activity and courage were great. He was not an angekok, for, like his friend Angut, he did not believe in wizards; nevertheless he was very truly an angekok, in the sense of being an uncommonly³ wise man, and his countrymen, recognising the fact, paid him suitable respect.

 

Okiok possessed⁴ a town and a country mansion⁵. That is to say, besides the solitary⁶ residence already mentioned, close to the great glacier⁷, he owned the largest hut in the Eskimo village. It was indeed quite a palatial⁸ residence, capable of holding several families, and having several holes in it—or windows—which were

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