ESKIMO OF Hudson's strait. 229 



Many other religious customs common to the race wei-e noticed, 

 but as nothing dissimilar was seen in them it is needless to relate 

 them as they liave often been told Vjefore. 



Although Mr. Rink has shewn the Eskimo are rich in legendry, 

 only one legend that was at all connected could be understood by our- 

 selves. This was told by Ugaluk, and ran as follows : Not many 

 years ago there lived a Cubloonack, or whiteman, on the eastern 

 shore of Hudson's Bay where there were lots of Inuite and a few 

 Udlers, or Indians. This Cubloonack was a very bad. man, and 

 used to speak to a lot of them, and taught them to sing different 

 songs. One "day an Udler came into the village and the Cubloonack 

 caught him and calling all the Inuite about him he tied the Udler 

 to a stake, and piling weeds and brush about it burned him alive. 

 Nearly every day he used to walk up a hill by a circuitous path 

 and as he walked he sang songs, all the Eskimos following in pro- 

 cession and when they reached the top of the hill he would talk 

 to them about the sky. Que day when the procession had gone 

 u]> half way the Inuite i-efused to go any further so the Cu- 

 l)loonack went on alone, and he was never seen again, but they 

 were sure he went up to the sky. 



It is to be regretted that owing to our time being taken up 

 with other matters while in the Strait little can be added to our 

 present knowledge of the language ; it may be worth noting, how- 

 ever, that although there is so little communication between the 

 north and south shoi"e of the Strait there is greater similarity in 

 the pronunciation than there is between those living at Cape Prince 

 of Wales and Cape Chudleigh. The chief difference in all cases 

 being the use or disuse of the final sound of k which is one of 

 the main characteristics of the Eskimo language. As for instance 

 at North Bluff the Eskimo say nannoo (bear) whilst at Cape Prince 

 of Wales it is pronunced nannook. 



Wonderful though it is that the language remains so intact, it 

 does not seem to be generally known what communication there is 

 between the Eskimo at one place and those at a distant part of the 

 coast. Regarding this I can only instance the case of one man 

 who, with his family, I met at Cape Prince of Wales. This man 



