" Thorn asked next.

"Because they are flat on the bottom."

The dug-outs kept together and went a little way out to sea. One man
had a bone spear. He saw a fish lying on the bottom and speared it.

"Oh, it is a flounder," said Periwinkle. "See, it is white on one
side. It lies on that side. It is gray on the top side, and both the
eyes are there."

Other men had long strings and bone hooks. They caught cod and herring.

When the boats were well filled with fish, the men began to paddle
home. But before they reached the shore, the sky turned gray, and the
sea grew rough, for the wind blew hard.

"This is nothing," said Periwinkle, laughing, as he saw the whites of
Thorn's eyes. "You should see it sometimes. The waves are as high as
a hill! Then we do not go fishing, and we live on foxes or rabbits or
bears or ducks, or anything that we can kill. When we get nothing by
hunting, we kill the dogs."

"Do the big waves ever turn the dug-outs over?" Thorn asked, with white
lips.

"Yes, but we all swim."

When the boats reached shore, the women stood waiting. They were glad
when they saw the fish, and quickly took them out. Then they began to
cook them.

[Illustration: They began to cook the fish]

One woman laid her fish on hot coals to cook. Another put big leaves
around hers and buried them in the ashes. One cooked hers in still
another way. She went to a hole in the ground and lined it with a
skin. She poured water into the hole and then put in hot stones until
the water grew hot. Then she put in her fish.

When the fish were cooked, the women cut big pieces and gave them to
their families. The people took the fish in their hands and sat down
on the sand and ate.

[Illustration: The people took the fish in their hands]

"Maybe you would like salt on your fish," said Foam to Thorn.

She took a little in her fingers and put it on his fish.

"That makes it taste better. Where do you get salt?"

"We burn sea-weed and get it."

When all the fish had been eaten, Periwinkle called, "They are going to
hack down a tree. Come on, if you want to see it."

As the boys ran through the woods, Thorn saw nothing but fir trees.

"Have you no trees but firs?" he asked.

"No, only firs--firs, little and big, as far as you can see."

The boys followed the sounds that rang through the woods. Soon they
saw men busy about a tree. One man was hacking a ring around it near
the ground. When that w