Eskimos were so good at working with their hands that they could use
their wonderful inventions to live alone if they wanted to or had to.
But they were very sociable, too. They made lots of visits--and long
visits. Nobody ever knocked when he entered a friend's door. In fact,
the Eskimos had no word for "Hello." Visitors were expected to come
right in.
[Illustration: walrus]
As long as there was anything to eat, no Eskimo ever went hungry.
Eskimos always shared their food and houses. No one ever owned a house
after he moved out of it. But to show that he intended to come back
home, he left some tools in his house. Tools, dogs, clothes, good luck
charms and toys were about the only things an Eskimo called his own
personal property. It never occurred to an Eskimo to pile up wealth
enough to hire someone else to work for him.
[Illustration: narwhal]
The Eskimos had no laws about sharing. They knew they _must_ share in
order to live at all. They had no chiefs as Indians had, and no police
or prisons or warriors.
If people decided something an Eskimo did was wrong, usually they just
wouldn't talk to him, or they asked him to leave the village. That was
real punishment. Nobody liked a man who was too lazy to hunt, but they
divided their food with him and his family anyway. They shared with
orphans, too. Every child had a home. Eskimos loved children.
[Illustration: bowhead whale]
[Illustration: The whole village shared the food when these big animals
were killed.]
[Illustration]