Eskimo arrived.

That day Ermigit had managed to spear a huge raven. Rooney, being
something of a naturalist, had skinned it, and it was while little
Tumbler was gazing at him in open-eyed admiration that the thought
struck him--Tumbler being very small and the raven very large.

"Come," said he, seizing the child--with whom he was by that time on the
most intimate terms of affection--"Come, I'll dress you up."

Tumbler was naked at the moment, and willingly consented. A few
stitches with needle and thread, which the sailor always carried in his
pocket, soon converted the wings of the bird into sleeves, a button at
the chest formed the skin into a rude cut-away coat, the head, with the
beak in front, formed a convenient cap, and the tail hung most naturally
down behind. A better full-dress coat was never more quickly
manufactured.

Ermigit went into convulsions of laughter over it, and the sailor,
charmed with his work, kept up a running commentary in mingled English
and Eskimo.

"Splendid!" he cried; "the best slop-shop in Portsmouth couldn't match
it! Cap and coat all in one! The fit perfect--and what a magnificent
tail!"

At this point Ermigit caught sight of the gaping and glaring Ippegoo in
the passage. With a bound he fell upon him, caught him by the hair, and
dragged him in.

Of course there followed a deal of questioning, which the hapless youth
tried to answer; but the fascination of the Kablunet was too much for
him. He could do nothing but give random replies and stare; seeing
which, Rooney suggested that the best way to revive him would be to give
him something to eat.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

MRS. OKIOK'S LITTLE EVENING PARTY.

In Eskimo land, as in England, power and industry result in the
elevation 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, deriv