The transition of Whitie to the White Czar took several years, and it was a most interesting period for both little Oumauk and the young bear. That first winter after their return from Eskimo Village there was continual friction between Oumauk and his mother as to how much the bear should be allowed in the igloo. When he had been a small cub weighing only eight or ten pounds, that was one thing; but when he had become a rather mischievous and boisterous yearling as large as a good-sized dog, that was quite another.
Besides, Whitie was destructive. The things that he did not get into were much fewer than those he did. But little Oumauk defended him in all his mischief and was nearly heartbroken if any one so much as hinted that Whitie was not perfect. Even when he tore Oumauk's new parka to ribbons, his young master was for excusing him.
The men who came to the igloo used to play rough-and-tumble with Whitie and wrestle and box with him. This made him so boisterous that Eiseeyou finally forbade their engaging him in these rough plays, for fear he would injure his small master. But with Oumauk the bear was always most gentle. He seemed to understand in a dim way that the small Eskimo boy was his master and that he should protect and be gentle with him. Oumauk's little sister was very much afraid of Whitie for a long time, and Oumauk used to tease her by telling her that bears often ate small girls, if they didn't mind their brothers.
With the inactivity of winter it was surprising how rapidly Whitie grew. But he was not so inactive as were the humans; for he often wandered far from Eskimo Town, even when he was a yearling.
With the return of Spring, Eiseeyou, Oumauk and Whitie were again seen on the hilltop setting up their net for the auk, and this spring Oumauk could help more than he had the year before. When they finally packed up their belongings and again started for Eskimo Village, Oumauk and Whitie were the most excited members of the party. This time Oumauk rode all of the way on Whitie's back. He could do anything with the shaggy white beast, although his mother was by this time afraid of the bear.
Arrived at Eskimo Village, the tents were again set up and the women and men got busy fishing and drying fish. Whitie now evinced a desire to roam and often was gone for half a day. The first time that he failed to appear at night Oumauk was heartbroken and thought he had lost him forever, but very early in the morning he was awakened by something soft passing over his face and opened his eyes to see the white bear standing over him.
One eventful day Eiseeyou took Oumauk on an expedition to a nearby island where he and several other Eskimos went for eider ducks' down and eggs. They took several sacks in which to bring home the eggs and the down. They went in one of the large
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square-ended boats, called women's boats.
The island was about two miles from the main land and Oumauk was much troubled when Whitie, who had watched their start from the shore, started to swim after them. Oumauk cried out to his father that Whitie could not swim so far and that he would be drowned. But Eiseeyou said that he was a famous swimmer and would be all right. Oumauk, however, was not so sure, and he kept his beady, black eyes glued upon the white spot which he knew was Whitie's head until they reached the island. He was elated, however, when the bear arrived on the island a few minutes behind them.
Although Whitie was dripping with water, Oumauk threw himself upon his friend and hugged him generously. But to the surprise of all, Whitie seemed perfectly at home on the island and at once went to the place where there were the most eider duck nests. Here he began sucking the eggs in a very greedy manner. Eiseeyou laughed at the sight, and Oumauk was delighted to see his pet was so clever.
The men at once set to work to gather the down from the nests and also the large, rich eggs. It was surprising how plenty the nests and eggs were. One could hardly move without stepping on the nests. The ducks flew up in scores.
Finally, when all the bags had been filled with either eggs or down, and the men had shot several dozen ducks for their larder, to vary their fish diet, the hunting party returned to Eskimo Village. Whitie again swam the distance to the mainland, although Oumauk wanted him taken into the boat.
Another still more wonderful day was when Eiseeyou took Oumauk to some more distant islands to see the seal rookeries. These were their summer breeding places, called hauling grounds.
This time they went in Eiseeyou's kayak and Oumauk was stowed away under the deck of the canoe, his head merely peeping out under his father's arm.
It was a beautiful trip. The sea was like glass. The late May sunshine thrilled them like old wine, and both father and son were very glad.
Arrived at the breeding grounds which were on several islands, Oumauk was amazed, as many a grown man has been by the numbers of the seals and also with their fearlessness.
Hundreds and even thousands of them were disporting themselves in the sunlight. Some were lying asleep while others were flopping about on their flippers, much like boys playing leap frog.
Oumauk was wild with delight when his father showed him a seal pup. It was snow white to match the snow and hide it from its enemies, and about a foot long.[1] It would have weighed about seven pounds. It was not shaped like much of anything in particular, but was a soft slippery mass of fat, covered with a wonderfully soft fur. When Eiseeyou took it up and placed it in little Oumauk's arms, it bleated like a small lamb and squirmed about to get away. The bleating of the mothers also sounded much like the lowing of young heifers.
Eiseeyou pointed out several sly foxes that scampered away at their approach. He told Oumauk that the foxes and the polar bears, like Whitie, followed the seals to these breeding grounds, killing the seal pups and eating them. At this, Oumauk was very indignant.
Presently the mother of the seal pup which they were fondling came bleating up out of the water, and Eiseeyou hastily placed it on the ground and took Oumauk to a little distance to watch the meeting between the pup and the mother.
The mother greeted the pup with several queer sounds all low and tender and nosed it over from head to tail to see if it had been injured. When she had satisfied herself that it was all right, both lay down in the sunshine and slept.
Further on in the island Eiseeyou pointed out several old bull seals sleeping in a warm place. He set Oumauk on a nearby rock while he himself went to awaken a large bull so that the Eskimo boy might get a better idea of him.
This old chap seemed to be the grandfather of the whole herd. He was about seven feet in length and would have weighed about seven hundred pounds. This was an extreme size for the seal.
When Eiseeyou went up to him and prodded him in the side with his paddle, he lifted his large head and bellowed mightily, but made no move to attack the Eskimo. Finally he aroused himself enough to look at Eiseeyou sideways. He seemed much perplexed by this creature which stood erect instead of on four flippers. Finally he got up and started slowly towards Eiseeyou, who then retreated to the rock where Oumauk watched. The Eskimo boy was much terrified at the approach of so mighty a creature, but Eiseeyou assured him that the seal was very clumsy on the land and it would be easy to elude him.
After reconnoitering the rock on which the two stood and peering at them from every angle, the old bull went back to his warm bed in the sand and was soon sleeping peacefully again.
One day several weeks later when Eiseeyou and Oumauk had occasion to visit an island nearer the mainland, where there were also young seals. They were much surprised to discover Whitie there ahead of them. He was lying in the lee of a rock and was eating something. As they came near, they discovered that it was a seal pup. So even this early he was plying the trade of a full grown polar bear, and killing the young seals.
Oumauk was very indignant and scolded Whitie severely, but Eiseeyou explained to him that this was the way of nature, that the larger fish ate the smaller, all the way down the scale.
The inhabitants of Eskimo Village always saw a great deal of the seals during their summers, so little Oumauk learned all about them. Some of this information he gleaned from watching them himself, but much of it was told him by his father.
He learned that the seals came to the rookeries to breed in May, when for a few weeks it was unlawful to kill them. But in June they were mating again, and each bull seal would select a dozen lady seals for the summer. During this season of courting, the male seals do not partake of any food, so when they finally swim away in October for the Southern seas the bulls are much emaciated and hardly to be recognized for the sleek fellows they were in June.
The seals were always watching the Eskimo fishing boats, and Eiseeyou told his son that they bothered the fisherman further south by taking their fish from the trollers, and also from the nets.
Although the seal is a bulky chap and swims clumsily in comparison to a fish, yet he will catch fish with ease when they could easily swim away from him if they only knew it.
The approach of such a monster seems to strike terror to the heart of the fish, and he falls an easy prey.
The most unpleasant thing about life in Eskimo Village is the mosquitoes which swarm in dark clouds in the Arctic regions during the long summer days. It is only by making a great smudge about the tents that the Eskimos can escape them. They drive the caribou nearly desperate, but Omingmong does not mind them as his coat is so long, and they do not much inhabit his cold latitude.
Whitie had a very novel way of escaping them, which greatly pleased Oumauk. When the mosquitoes had stung his eyes so that he could hardly see out of them, he would take to the water. There he would submerge himself and lie for hours with just the tip of his nose showing. If the mosquitoes swarmed on the end of his nose he would get even with them by drawing it under quickly and wetting them.
Thus the summer went with the Eskimo fishing and drying fish, gathering birds' eggs, and killing enough ducks and geese for their immediate need, and also gathering down for the market. They likewise tried out considerable seal oil for use in the stonelamp during the long night when they would need all the light they could get.
Then in the autumn came the annual migration back to Eskimo Town.
It was not a varied or exciting life, as a white boy would look at it. But to Oumauk it was full of wonder and mystery, for he was constantly learning of the wild life about him and of the ways of nature. As for Whitie, he grew and grew until he was finally forbidden to enter the igloo. But that was unnecessary, for when he was three years old he had grown so large that he could not crawl through the tunnel leading to Eiseeyou's igloo.
As he gained his full stature and weight, all the women in Eskimo Town became afraid of him. Many of the men were afraid of him as well. Some of them even counseled Eiseeyou to shoot him, but he would not hear of it. He knew that it would break Oumauk's heart. The Eskimo boy could do anything with the great shaggy beast. He was no more afraid of him than he was of the wolfish dogs. Probably no white boy ever loved a dog as Oumauk did Whitie.
Whitie by this time had acquired all the wisdom of a wild polar bear. He knew where to find the seal pups and kill them on the icefloe. He could even attack a full grown seal and kill that as well. He had several times performed that dangerous stunt of swimming upon the walrus herd when the adults were asleep and snatching a calf before they knew what was up. He knew where to find the ducks and geese eggs on the islands along the coast and he grew fat upon the delicious eggs. He knew all the berries and roots that a polar bear likes. He also knew how to drive the fish into the shallows along the shore and then strike them from the water with his big paw.
He had stalked and killed a caribou calf when he was only two years old and it had nearly cost him his life. The bull had surprised him in the act and had charged the murderer and gored him badly in the shoulder.
Once while in pursuit of a walrus calf, he had been attacked by a killer whale and had escaped miraculously with a mighty gash along his entire side. This had laid him up for nearly a month, but he had been carefully attended by his master, Oumauk, during this sorry time. So it will be seen that even the life of the polar bear is not all roses. If he hunts the other polar creatures, yet he is often hunted himself.
Nor did Whitie entirely escape the rifles of the hunters. Eiseeyou had warned all the Eskimos along Eskimo land coast not to shoot at him; but how was he to be told from any other white bear? So he was once badly wounded by a rifle ball which, luckily for the happiness of Eiseeyou's igloo, did not hit a vital spot.
Finally, to prevent his being shot and killed by some lawless Eskimo, Eiseeyou made a broad, strong leather collar for Whitie and covered it with bright red flannel. This could be plainly seen a hundred yards away, almost as far away as any one would naturally shoot at him. So it became known all through Eskimo Land that the great white bear with the red collar belonged to Eiseeyou and little Oumauk, and was not to be shot.
By this time Whitie, or the White Czar as I shall henceforth call him, lived almost as much away from Eskimo town as he did at home. He was half wild and half domesticated. But the only person in Eskimo Town who could lay a hand on him was Oumauk, and the only man who was not afraid of him was Eiseeyou. But he came and went a much privileged bear, still as much beloved by his small master as ever.
So life with the people of the snow went by until the White Czar was six years old. He had then come to his full stature and weight, which was about six hundred pounds. He had mated three times and often been away from Eskimo Town for months.
Oumauk himself was nine years old and a stalwart lad. There were now several other children in Eiseeyou's igloo, but Oumauk was his favorite.
In the autumn of the year when Oumauk was nine and the White Czar was six years old, a terrible plague visited Eskimo Town. It would not have been serious among white people, but the Eskimo is very dirty and he easily falls a prey to contagious diseases. The disease swept through the little community like wild fire. The Eskimos did what they could. They applied some simple remedies which they secured from the mission farther south, and the local medicine man pounded on his large drum and entreated all the gods of health that he knew of, but all to no avail. Hardly an hour of a day passed but some Eskimo mother ran shrieking from her igloo, wringing her hands and calling to her friends that death had claimed one of her children.
In the igloo of Eiseeyou, little sister was the first to go. Then two of the smaller children followed her. Finally Eiseeyou's favorite, Oumauk, was stricken. He did not die although he was very sick for several days. When he finally got better, there was great rejoicing in the igloo. But this was cut short one night by a terrible discovery.
Oumauk ran crying to his mother, complaining that the stone lamp gave no light. It was all night in the igloo. His mother assured him that it was burning brightly, but he said no, and went groping about for the light. This filled the hearts of his parents with foreboding. On the morrow when the sun finally appeared for two or three hours, Eiseeyou took him out of doors, but he said the same thing of the sun. The sun had gone out. It gave no light.
Then Eiseeyou and his good kooner knew a terrible thing had happened. The measles had struck to Oumauk's eyes and left him blind.
The next day Eiseeyou took his stricken son to the settlement further south, where the missionary examined him carefully.
He shook his head after the examination. Only the great doctor at Quebec could help him, and that would take lots of money and a long journey. At these words Eiseeyou turned his steps sorrowfully homeward and despair reigned all that winter in his igloo.
- ↑ Note: In the northern hemisphere the seal pup is white. This is to screen him from such enemies as the bear, the wolf, and the fox. In the southern hemisphere where these animals do not exist, he is the same color as the adult seal.