282 Death of Queen Emma. [ ^ugusi, is66. 



sino-le incident of interest nuiy be here noted. On the 1st of July, 

 Ou-e-h(, the chief, lost his onl}^ remaining wife, known under the name 

 of Queen Emma. The poor creature had been very harshly treated 

 throuuli a long sickness, having been refused nutritious food at a time 

 Nvlien it might have saved her life, and again refused when charged, 

 through jealousy, with giving premature birth to a child without in- 

 forming her husband of it. She was accounted guilty through the 

 decree of the au-r/e-Jio, which shut out all protestations of innocence 

 from herself and her mother: and the maledictions poured upon her by 

 the ignorant of the village had helped to hasten her death. Her suffer- 

 ings were another proof of the indifference and liard-heartedness 

 found habitually to prevail toward the women ; other instances fre- 

 (piently occurring, as in the case of See-pimg-er''s wife, compelled to 

 walk more than sixty miles, with a hj-ah on her head and a child of 

 three years in her hood, though herself in a delicate condition* The 

 death of Queen p]mma gave Hall some annoyance, because Ou-e-la's 

 old enmity against the Pelly Bay men was now revived by the declar- 

 ation of the an-ge-ko that it was their coming which had caused it. 



But some relief for all this was at hand. His health, which had 

 been somewhat broken, was restored. The season had been almost 



* The degraded condition of women in countries not under the iufiueuco of Christianity is 

 too well known to need comment. The chief of a tribe near the Mackenzie expressed the com- 

 mon feeling of Northern savages when he said : 



'•Women were made for labor. One of them can carry or haul as much as two men can 

 do. They also pitch our tents, make and mend our clothing, keep us warm at night ; and, in 

 fact, there is no such thing as traveling any considerable distance, or for any length of time, in 

 this country without their assistance. Though they can do everything, they are maintained at a 

 trilling expense ; for as they stand cook, the very Iklcing of their fingers in scarce times is sufficient 

 fi/r Ihnr suhsistence." — (Hearne's Journey to the North Ocean, p. 54.) 



Compare with this their condition in Central Australia: "While husband, father, or 

 broilur is feasting on the game which she has cooked, a wife or sister thinks herself fortunate if 

 now ami then a nearly-cleaned bone or a piece of scorched meat is tossed to her as to a dog. — 

 WooiI'h Uncivilized Races.) 



