MR. J. K. KANE'S NARRATIVE. 525 



it had been since the Dokto Kayens had left them, for 

 it was evident that this was their name for the whole 

 party ; but we could not make them understand. They 

 would only tell us that their guests had been with them 

 for some time. This they did by pointing to the south, 

 and. then following the track of the sun till it reached 

 the north ; then, after stretching themselves out on the 

 ground, and closing their eyes, as if in sleep, would 

 again point to the south, rise up, go down to the lake 

 and pretend to wash their faces. The gesture lay in 

 pretence only, however, for they seemed to regard the 

 washing of the Dokto Kayens as a remarkable religious 

 observance. It certainly was not one which had been 

 practically ingrafted into their own formulary of good 

 works. These unsophisticated children of the frost-land 

 never wash off dirt, for the simple reason that of dirt, 

 as such, they have no conception or idea. 



"Improvidence is another trait of these 'fresh chil- 

 dren of impulse.' We were at their village as late as 

 the 19th of August. Yet, although the auks were flying 

 round them in such quantities that one man could have 

 been able to catch a thousand an hour, they had not 

 enough prepared for winter to last two days. They 

 were all disgustingly fat, and always eating, perhaps 

 an average ration of eighteen pounds per diem, yet 

 they had lost seven by starvation during the last winter, 

 though relieved, as far as we could make it out, by the 

 Dokto Kayens. 



" They suffer dreadfully from cold, too ; yet there is 

 an abundance of excellent peat, which they might dig 

 during the summer. They know its value as fuel, and 

 are simply too lazy to stack it. The little auk, which 

 forms their principal food, may be said also to be their 

 only fuel. Indeed, it quite fills the place which the 

 seal holds among the more southern Esquimaux. Their 



