MURDOCH.) PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 39 



of adoption. Dr. Simpson heard of a &quot;rare case&quot; where one woman had 

 borne seven children. 1 We heard of 110 twins at either village, though 

 we obtained the Eskimo word for twins. It was impossible to learn 

 with certainty the age at which the women first bear children, from the 

 impossibility of learning the age of any individuals in the absence of 

 any fixed method of reckoning time. Dr. Simpson states that they do 

 not commonly bear children before the age of -!0, 2 and we certainly saw 

 no mothers who appeared younger than this. We knew of but five cases 

 of pregnancy in the two villages during the 2 years of our stay. Of 

 these, one suffered miscarriage, and of the other four, only two of the 

 infants lived more than a short time. It is exceedingly difficult, for the 

 reasons stated above, to form any estimate of the age to which these 

 people live, though it is natural to suppose that the arduous and often 

 precarious existence which they lead must prevent any great longevity. 

 Men and women who appeared to be 00 or over were rare. Yiiksi fia, 

 the so-called &quot;chief&quot; of Nuwtik, who was old enough to be a man of 

 considerable influence at the time the Plover wintered at Point Harrow 

 (1852- 54), was in 1881 a feeble, bowed, tottering old man, very deaf 

 and almost blind, but with his mental faculties apparently unimpaired. 

 Gray hair appears uncommon. Even the oldest are, as a rule, but 

 slightly gray. 



PATHOLOGY. 



Diseases of the respiratory and digestive organs are the most frequent 

 and serious ailments from which they suffer. The former are most 

 prevalent toward the end of summer and early in winter, and are due 

 to the natives sleeping on the damp ground and to their extreme care 

 lessness in exposing themselves to drafts of wind when overheated. 

 Nearly everyone suffers from coughs and colds in the latter part of 

 August, and many deaths occur at this season and the beginning of 

 winter from a disease which appears to be pneumonia. A tew cases, &amp;lt; 

 one fatal, of hemorrhage of the lungs were observed, which were proba- / 

 bly aggravated by the universal habit of inhaling tobacco smoke. The , 

 people suffer from diarrhea, indigestion, and especially from constipa- j 

 tion. 



Gonorrhea appears common in both sexes, but syphilis seems to be 

 unknown in spite of the promiscuous intercourse of the women with the 

 whalemen. One case of uterine hemorrhage was observed. Cutaneous 

 diseases are rare. A severe ulcer on the leg, of long standing, was cured 

 by our surgeon, to whose observations I am chiefly indebted for what I 

 have to say about the diseases of these people; and one man had lost 

 the cartilage of his nose and was marked all over the body with hideous 

 scars from what appeared to be some form of scrofulous disease. A 

 single case of tumor on the deltoid muscle was observed. Rheumatism 

 is rather frequent. All are subject to snow blindness in the spring, and 



Op. cit., p. 254. Op.cit. p. 254. 



