k care of him, and dressed his frost-bites, and
was so good to him that the savages all called him '_Paw-weit_', which
means 'Little Good-heart.' So the Dean got on famously; but the poor
frozen savage that he had been so kind to died at last, and was buried
in the snow.

"A child fell on the ice, and broke its arm, and the Dean set it, and
made it all right; and to other people he did many things to show his
sympathy for them; but, when he began to tell them about our religion,
they did not understand him, and had no mind to listen. This very much
grieved the Dean; for he wanted to convert the whole of them, and
thought, if he only knew their language better, he could persuade them
all to be Christians,--which I think very likely, for nobody could
resist him.

"We remained at the snow village three weeks, but we did not do much
more hunting, as the savages seemed to think they had enough for their
present wants; and since they are almost constantly moving about from
place to place in search of food, they never store up much for the
future. Having enough to eat for the present, they let the future take
care of itself; and, sure of a good meal, they amuse themselves mostly
with telling stories, usually about each other,--that is, when they are
not eating or sleeping, which I must say occupies most of their time.

"They had a singular custom in their story-telling which I have never
seen among any other people. One person recites the story, and the
listeners break in, every now and then, with a laughing chorus that is
nothing more than a repetition of the meaningless words, '_amna aya_',
which are sung over and over to any extent. The women generally enjoy it
the most, and sing the loudest, especially when a man is concerned. I
will give you a specimen of this kind of song,--translated, of course,
as I have long ago forgotten how to speak their language.

"Eatum is telling the story of a bear-hunt, and as you will see that it
is a kind of song, I will sing it for you, and you can join in the
chorus just as well as if you were all little savages yourselves. We
will call it

"THE SONG OF KARSUK'S BEAR-HUNT.

"A bear is seen upon the ice,
_Amna aya_;
Karsuk goes out to hunt the bear,
_Amna, amna aya_,

"The dogs get quick upon the trail,
_Amna aya_;
The dogs are pulling all they can,
_Amna, amna, aya_.

"The bear is running all he can,
_Amna aya_;
Th