ML-Kiiocii.l HEALING. 423 



apparently to apply a oounterirritant by scarification of the surface- of 

 the part affected. 



We know of one case where a sufferer from some liver complaint had 

 inflicted on himself, or had had inflicted upon him, quite a considerable 

 cut on the right side with a view of relieving the pain. We also know 

 of several cases where the patients had themselves cut on the scalp or 

 back to relieve headache or rheumatism, and one case where the latter 

 disorder, I believe, had been treated by a severe cut on the side of the 

 knee. A similar practice has been observed at Plover Bay, Siberia, by 

 Hooper, 1 who also mentions the use of a kind of seton for the relief of 

 headache. 



They also practice a sort of rough-and-ready surgery, as in the case 

 of the man already mentioned, whose feet had both been amputated. 

 One of the men who lost the tip of his forefinger by the explosion of ;i 

 cartridge was left with a stump of bone protruding at the end of the 

 finger. Our surgeon attempted to treat this, but after two unsuccessful 

 trials to etherize the patient he was obliged to give it up. When, how 

 ever, the young man s father-in-law, who was a noted &quot;doctor,&quot; came 

 home he said at once that the stump must come off, and the patient 

 had to submit to the operation without ether. The &quot;doctor&quot; tried to 

 borrow Dr. Oldmixon s bone forceps, and when these were refused him 

 cut the bone off, I believe, with a chisel. They appear to have no cure 

 for blindness. We heard nothing of the curious process of &quot;couching&quot; 

 described by Kgede in Greenland, p. llil. We had no opportunity of 

 observing their methods of treating wounds or other external injuries. 

 Sufferers were very glad to be treated by our surgeon, and eagerly ac 

 cepted his medicines, though he, had considerable difficulty in making 

 them obey his directions about taking care of themselves. 



After they had been in the habit of receiving the surgeon s medicine 

 for some time, one of the TTtkiavwin natives gave Oapt. Ilerendeen what 

 he said was their own medicine. It is a tiny bit of turf which they 

 called nuna kliimolq, and which, therefore, probably came from the high 

 land of the upper Meade River, which region bears the name of 

 Kifimolq. We were able to get very little information about this sub 

 stance, but my impression is that it was said to be administered in 

 ternally, and I believe was specially recommended for bleeding at the 

 lungs. Possibly this is the same as &quot;the black moss that grows on the 

 mountain,&quot; which, according to (/rant/. 2 was eaten by the Greenlanders 

 to stop blood-spitting. 



CUSTOMS CONCERNING THE DKAI). 



Abstention*. From the fact that we did not hear of any of the deaths 

 until after their occurrence, we were able to learn very few of their 



Tents, etc.. p. 1KB. 



