folk as if they had dropped from the moon.

But other Eskimo, kind-hearted and hospitable, were moved to show the
strangers what shore life was like.

They got busy at the stove, boiled water, and presently handed about
large cups of tea, with sugar and biscuit.

The Indians devoured the refreshments thankfully, for they were very
hungry. The Northern Indians lead lives that are often sharpened with
hunger for long periods together. You can see it in their lank frames
and their gaunt faces. The southern Indians, nearer the flesh-pots,
with kindly priests at work among them, look roly-poly, chubby and
content.

It was a very silent party. The Indians who had been so bold as to
come this far to the sea were probably homesick for the flat stones,
the dwarf birches, the far-lying ponds and cold swirling streams, the
hordes of mosquitoes and the caribou of their lone spaces at Indian
House Lake. The cluster of houses at Nain looked to them as New York
would seem to one who had always dwelt in the heart of the Maine
woods.

By morning, after a sound sleep on the floor, they were eager to begin
trading.

A southern Indian translated.

They had brought deerskins chiefly. There are few valuable furs in
their part of Labrador, but they did their best to make a brave
showing with the few they were able to find.

You can imagine their people at home at Indian House Lake saying
before the start of the expedition: "Oh, if we only had some beaver or
marten skins! Wouldn't it be nice, now, if we could get a silver or a
cross fox? Those people down there at the coast know such a lot, and
are so rich, and so particular! Nothing but the very best we have will
do."

They held up a bearskin with great pride. They had a wolverine,--the
only sort of fur on which snow will not freeze,--several wolf-skins,
and moccasins, embroidered. The translator would point to what they
wanted on the shelves. Then they would take the object in their hands
and weigh it very carefully, thinking of all those portages on the
homeward trail--probably twenty at least--over which every ounce must
be carried on a man's shoulders.

They bought lots of tea--one man getting as much as sixteen pounds.
They wanted gay prints. Other things to which they took a fancy were
tobacco, cartridges, fish-hooks, matches, needles, and pearl buttons.
First they handed over the skins, and received money in return: then
they spent the money. Mouth-organs were much in dem