Sketches From Oldest America 



also done good in the class of cases where nothing 

 more than a faith cure is needed for the sick. Con- 

 cerning the latter, the Polarites are not to be too much 

 condemned when we consider the large amount of su- 

 perstition exhibited by some of the more civilized 

 inhabitants of the States, who have unbounded con- 

 fidence in their "Faith Healers." The marvelous 

 claims that are made for these ' ' Ongootkoots "are un- 

 doubtedly due to the zeal of their descendants, who 

 are naturally anxious to place their ancestors in as 

 favorable a light as possible, especially if they 

 themselves aspire to become " Ongootkoots " by in- 

 heritance. It is also doubtful if the marvelous deeds 

 were ever known until the man had been dead fifty 

 years or more. 



The " Ongootkoot," however, has had his day and 

 is now on the decline. One often hears the older 

 people say, as they shake their heads, that he is not 

 the wonderful man he was in the days of old. The 

 young people, through their growing enlighten- 

 ment, are also losing confidence in the man and his 

 claims. Of those who were confirmed by the 

 Bishop of Alaska at Point Hope in the summer of 

 1903, four were directly descended from spirits 

 entering the world as human beings; but they dis- 

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