CHRISTMAS CELEBRATED 163 



the danger of being carried to sea is an ever present 

 one to the hunter. Now and again Eskimos are cut 

 off from land in this manner, swept to sea on large 

 floes, and never heard from again. The year before 

 my visit Kulutinguah and Outta were thus taken 

 adrift, but fortunately, after three days of intense 

 hardship, their loose pan, buffeted by the wind and 

 driven by the tide and current, struck the main floe 

 and they reached shore in safety. 



I was preparing for bed one night when Kudlar's 

 kooner rushed in upon me so excited that at first I 

 could not understand what she was talking about. 

 She was so wildly excited, in fact, that I believed at 

 first she had gone problokto. After a few moments, 

 however, she succeeded in telling me that Kudlar had 

 cut his hand, and implored my assistance. I hurried 

 into warm clothes and ran over to his igloo, where I 

 found that the poor fellow, while repairing a sledge 

 and trying to gouge a hole through a piece of hard 

 wood, had run the blade of a large knife clear through 

 his left hand. There was no water ready, and I had 

 to melt some ice, after which I washed the wound 

 thoroughly in a solution of mercury bichloride, and 

 bandaged it. The following day his hand was much 

 swollen, and he could not move the middle finger. 

 He had suffered so much pain during the night that 

 he had not been able to sleep. All I could do for 

 him, however, was to wash the cut with bichloride 

 again, dress it with carbolated vaseline, and bandage 

 it anew. Under this treatment the hand improved 

 and healed in a remarkably short time. In view of 



