Among young children at play the greatest harmony prevails. An accident resulting in sufficient harm to cause tears obtains the sympathy of all, who strive to appease the injured child by offers of the greatest share of the game, the little fellow often smiling with the prospective pleasure while the tears yet course down his begrimed cheeks. In a moment all is forgotten and joyous shouts sound merrily as the chubby youngsters of both sexes redouble their exertion in playing football or building toy houses in the newly fallen snow, where, on the bed of snow within the wall of the hut, the doll of ivory, wood or rags rolled into its semblance, plays the part of hostess whom they pretend to visit and with whom they converse. Among the younger boys and girls, of 10 or 12, there is a great spirit of cheerful rivalry, to prove their ability to secure such food as they are able to capture. If they can procure enough to purchase some ammunition with which to kill ptarmigan they soon have a certain amount of credit. This enables them to provide some coveted luxury for their parents, who, of course, aid and encourage them to become successful hunters. Within the huts the girls display their skill by sewing fragments of cloth into garments for dolls or striving to patch their tattered clothes. The older boys look with contempt upon these childish occupations and, to show their superiority, often torment the younger ones until the father or mother compels them to desist. Pranks of various kinds are played upon each other and they often exhibit great cunning in their devices to annoy. These boys are able to accompany their elders on hunting trips and run ahead of the team of dogs attached to the sled. BURIAL CUSTOMS When a person dies the body is prepared by binding it with cords, the knees being drawn up and the heels placed against the body. The arms are tied down, and a covering of deerskin or sealskin is wrapped around the body and fastened. The nearest relatives on approach of death remove the invalid to the outside of the house, for if he should die within he must not be carried out of the door but through a hole cut in the side wall, and it must then be carefully closed to prevent the spirit of the person from returning. The body is exposed in the open air along the side of a large rock, or taken to the shore or hilltop, where stones of different sizes are piled around it to prevent the birds and animals from getting at it. (See Fig. 21.) It is considered a great offense if a dog be seen eating the flesh from a body. In case of a beloved child dying it is sometimes taken with the people to whom it belonged if they start for another locality before decomposition has progressed too far. [Illustration: FIG. 21. Eskimo grave.]