ETHNOLOGY. 27 



Six= Au Tibin iga n . 



'Eight=Aiil'binigan-machoni (6 and 2). 



Above ten they are said to count their toes and take ten and one, ten 

 and two, &c. ; but we were unable to find one who knew their names. 

 They will tell you they have caught seals or birds up to six, but if more 

 they generally put it amashuadly (a good many), which may be any num- 

 ber from seven upwards. 



In the treatment of the sick they are very superstitious, and in fact 

 they resort almost entirely to their ancoot, angekoks, or medicine-men. 



The following is a Greeiilander's legend that proposes to give a reason 

 why people die: "The cause of people's dying is laid to a woman, said 

 to have discoursed thus : * Let the people die gradually, otherwise they 

 will not have room in the world.'" 



Others relate it in this manner: "Two of the first people quarreled. 

 One said : ' Let it be day and let it be night, and let the people die. ? The 

 other said : i Let it only be night and not day, and let the people live. 

 After a long wrangle it came to pass as the first had said." 



It is interesting that this same curious legend exists among the Eskimo 

 of Cumberland Sound ; they say though that "those who quarreled 

 finally arranged matters and had both entire day and entire night at the 

 different seasons, so that both parties might be suited." 



The lungs of Lepus gladalis are considered as a sure cure for boils and 

 all manner of sores ; they draw, they say, and their manner of applying 

 them is the same as we would a poultice. They must be applied as 

 soon after the animal's death as possible, and while they are yet warm. 



In cases of scurvy they never use CochUaria, but the stomach of a 

 freshly killed reindeer, with the vegetable contents, instead. If the 

 scurvy patient be very bad, the limbs are bound with pieces of the deer's 

 stomach, whale or seal's blubber, or any kind of fresh meat. If a whale 

 can be caught at such a time, the patient is sometimes bodily shoved into 

 the carcass, or the lower extremities only are- sunken into the flesh. 



The most prevalent disease among them seems to be lung disease 5 it 

 is alarmingly common, and consumption probably kills more than all 

 other diseases combined. 



The whalemen have introduced venereal diseases among them, which 

 have spread at a terrible rate, and devastate the natives almost like a 

 pest. 



