An ookjook, when killed, is divided up in the
same way as a walrus, all the bystanders receiving a share. In making
the division of the carcass the portions are kept in a bag made by
lacing the edges of the skin that holds the share with a line made of a
strip of the raw hide. In this bag are also deposited such portions of
the entrails, liver, etc., as fall to the share of each. In hunting on
foot the men usually take one or two dogs apiece to drag home their
dividends. When encamped upon a hill, such as Depot Island, which
commands a view of an extensive tract of ice, the natives seldom go
walrus hunting unless they first see one on the ice, in which case one
of the best hunters starts immediately with his weapons, and the
"bummers" follow later with a sled and dogs. The arrival of a sled-load
of walrus meat into a hungry camp is one of the most cheerful sights
that it ever falls to the lot of a traveller to witness, and I have
noticed that his interest is seldom diminished by the fact that his own
is one of the hungry stomachs to be fed from this plenty. The women see
the sled coming, while still at a great distance, and then the big
stone lamps are lit, and snow put into the kettles to melt, so that no
time need be wasted after the meat gets there. The cooking is seldom
done in each dwelling separately; but he who has the largest kettle or
the biggest heart, when his own meal is ready, goes to the door of his
igloo or tupic and calls out, "O-yook, O-yook," which means warm food,
and all the men and boys gather in, each with a knife in his hand, and
without further ceremony they fall to and devour what is set before
them.
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