January, i>s«9.i Tile NoowooJc Nativcs at Iwillik. 369 



The villag-e near wliicli he quartered himself now contained one 

 hundred and twenty inhabitants, a number to wliich it had suddenly 

 risen by the coming in of some from Lyon's Inlet, who had heard of 

 the whale captures. 



December and January were spent by this people in a round of 

 amusements, feastings, and gynmastics. A low kind of gambling, 

 spoken of as " whirling a trigger," was supplemented by renew^ed 

 an-'koo-ting jjerformances, all of which were broken in upon at times 

 by long and weary journeys through snow and ice to renew from 

 their deposits exhausted, supplies of food. The natives, as was to be 

 expected, were often very improvident, voraciously consuming a load 

 of as many as five deer in an hour after bringing them in, and then 

 suffering from absolute want. On the first day of the new }'ear, the 

 fifth which Hall had now spent in the North, he entertained at din- 

 ner all those who had been with him through his first winter at 

 Noo-wook. Ten of the forty-two had died, and but two children had 

 been born. 



He was aided by the natives during the w^inter more fully than 

 ever before, no alienations such as have been sometimes referred to 

 again occurring; but his chief difficulty seems to have been an excess of 

 cordiality on their part, which broke in upon him while working up 

 the observations made on his trip to Lyon's Inlet. His igho was 

 sometimes filled with men, women, and children, keeping up a constant 

 jabbering, humming, crying, and begging ; noises which made him 

 say that if he could have some retirement, it would be the blessing of 

 an earthly heaven. They often gave him further disquiet by unscru- 

 pulously laying hands on his own stores — never asking leave. 



Fapa Tew-a, on one of the bleak days of January, drew for him, 

 S. Ex. 27 24 



