Publishers Preface 



how many a long conversation must these prim 

 itive tales represent! How much patience, upon 

 the hearer s part, it must have required to corrobor 

 ate these traditions by comparing one account with 

 another and noting their remarkable similarity! 

 These sketches are real native stories put into read 

 able English, without any attempt at embellishment 

 or enlargement. 



Near the native village of Tigara extends, for a 

 considerable distance, the ancient burial place of 

 the tribe. Here, upon elevated platforms, sup 

 ported high above the ground on whales jaws, out 

 of the reach of wild animals, have slumbered the 

 dead for ages past. In and beneath these places of 

 sepulture, Dr. Driggs has found many interesting 

 relics of great antiquity, which he has brought 

 away with him. Among these were the original 

 instruments used in bygone ages for making flint 

 axes and arrow-heads. These the reader will find 

 described in the text. 



The site originally selected for Dr. Driggs s house 

 was too close to the shore. He found this out one 

 night when a storm brought the water of the Arctic 

 Ocean up over the land, and a succession of big 

 waves forced his door open. Carrying a native lad 



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