He had made the
best arrangements possible for the actually destitute little ones by
finding more or less comfortable homes for them, and seeking
contributions from generous folk in the United States, Canada and
Great Britain to pay for their expense.
But it was not, perhaps, until Pomiuk, a little Eskimo boy, came under
his care that he finally decided that the establishment of a
children's home could no longer be delayed.
Pomiuk's home was in the far north of Labrador, where no trees grow,
and where the seasons are quite as frigid as those of northern
Greenland. In summer he lived with his father and mother in a skin
tent, or tupek, and in winter in a snow igloo, or iglooweuk.
Pomiuk's mother cooked the food over the usual stone lamp, which also
served to heat their igloo in winter. This lamp, which was referred to
in an earlier chapter, and described as a hollowed stone in the form
of a half moon, was an exceedingly crude affair, measuring eighteen
inches long on its straight side and nine inches broad at its widest
part. When it was filled with oil squeezed from a piece of seal
blubber, the blubber was suspended over it at the back that the heat,
when the wick of moss was lighted, would cause the blubber oil to
continue to drip and keep the lamp supplied with oil.
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