The People of the Eastern Ice

The People of the Eastern Ice, they are melting like the snow—
They beg for coffee and sugar; they go where the white men go. 
The People of the Western Ice, they learn to steal and fight;
They sell their furs to the trading-post : they sell their souls to the white.
The People of the Southern Ice, they trade with the whaler's crew ;
Their women have many ribbons, but their tents are torn and few.
But the People of the Elder Ice, beyond the white man's ken—­
Their spears are made of the narwhal-horn, and they are the last of the Men !

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