ESKIMO PATIENTS 



Another face that pushes its way to the front 

 of my memory is that of little Kettura, a brisk little 

 housewife from Nain, who came as a passenger on 

 her husband's sledge to have treatment for her eyes. 

 There she sat in her bed in the ward, with both eyes 

 bandaged over ; singing in her clear, sweet voice, 

 and improvising an accompaniment on the guitar. 

 As we went about our work we could hear the 

 twankle-twankle of the strings and the quaint sound 

 of her singing, hour after hour, tune after tune, as the 

 happy little woman made light of her passing darkness. 



When people like these travellers from distant 

 stations began to come into the hospital, we cast 

 about in our minds for some way of making them 

 feel at home. It would never do to pen them up 

 in a European house, with hardly an Eskimo face 

 to see : such treatment would soon have depressed 

 them. No, they must have Eskimo company ; and 

 so one of the first questions we asked them was, 

 " Have you any relatives here ? " because the Eskimos 

 are very keen on recognising even the most distant 

 relationships, and would pay a great deal of attention 

 to a fourth or fifth cousin from a hundred miles 

 away. I call to mind one man who gave a strik- 

 ingly naive answer to the usual question. He was 

 a cripple from the north, who came on a dog-sledge, 

 and answered " Oh, yes " when I asked him whether 

 he had any relatives in Okak. " Illale " (certainly), 

 he said, "there is so-and-so, and so-and-so ' and 

 he reeled off a string of names, most of them quite 

 unfamiliar to us. "Ahaila" (yes), I said, "naukut 

 inniksakarkat " (where have they their dwelling) ? 



" Illuvervingme " (in the graveyard), said the 



cripple. 



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