264 ESQUIMAU GRATITUDE. 



Kalutunah and his companions had scarcely been 

 gone when another sledge came, bringing two more 

 Esquimaux, — Amalatok, of Northumberland Island, 

 and his son. They had four dogs ; and having stopped 

 on the way to catch a walrus, part of which they had 

 brought with them, they were much fatigued ; and, 

 having got wet in securing the prize, they were cold 

 and a little frozen. Both were for several days quite 

 sick in Tcheitchenguak's snow-hut, and I had at last 

 a patient, and the snow-hut became a sort of hospital, 

 for old Tcheitchenguak was sick too. I either visited 

 them myself or sent Mr. Knorr twice daily ; but the 

 odor of the place becoming at length too much for 

 that gentleman's aristocratic nose, I could no longer 

 prescribe by proxy, and so went myself and cured my 

 patients very speedily, winning great credit as a Nar- 

 kosak, the " medicine man," in addition to being the 

 Nalegaksoak, " the big chief." Amalatok thought at 

 one time that he was going to die, and indeed I be- 

 came sincerely alarmed about my reputation ; but he 

 came round all right in the end, and, strange though 

 it may appear, his memory actually outlived the ser- 

 vice long enough for him to do more than to say 

 " Koyanak," — "I thank you ; " — that is to say, as 

 soon as he could get about he brought me his best 

 dog, and, in token of gratitude, made me a present of 

 it. Afterward, upon the offer of some substantial gifts, 

 he sold me another, and he went home as rich as the 

 party that had preceded him, and happy as Moses 

 Primrose returning from the fair with his gross of 

 shagreen spectacles. 



And thus my kennels were being once more filled 

 up, and my heart was rejoiced. 



