The Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen, of Danish nationality, had intimate knowledge of the Eskimos. He lived among them in Greenland, Hudson Bay and Alaska for long periods between 1906 and 1957, and married one of them. He writes with great humour and gusto about these northerly folk, and in his stories there are many amusing accounts of the Eskimos' customs of greeting and visiting each other.

It wouldn't be enough to say that in 1920s' Greenland, modesty and humility were the basic ingredients when someone turned up for dinner: self-deprecation and self-effacement seem more appropriate words.

There you are, sitting in your rock-and-peat winter house (igloos were used only as temporary dwellings during hunting and travel), with nothing special to do.

Grandma has sucked the snot out of the children's noses, and your wife sits naked on the family bunk, cutting up hides and sewing sealskin boots.

You know you have saved the best pieces of the last hunt for visitors. So all you want is for someone to turn up.

The Eskimos have a word for it: iktsuarpok. It describes perfectly the expectant host, who can't help having a peek outside every minute in the hope that someone might come to visit.