MURDOCH. ] HEALING. 423 
apparently to apply a counterirritant by scarification of the surface of 
the part affected. 
We know of one case where a sufferer from some liver complaint had 
inflicted on himself, or had had inflicted upon him, quite a cousiderable 
cut on the right side with a view of relieving the pain. We also know 
of several cases where the patients had themselves cut on the scalp or 
back to relieve headache or rheumatism, and one case where the latter 
disorder, I believe, had been treated by a severe cut on the side of the 
knee. A similar practice has been observed at Plover Bay, Siberia, by 
Hooper,! who also mentions the use of a kind of seton for the relief of 
headache. 
They also practice a sort of rough-and-ready surgery, a8 in the case 
of the man already mentioned, whose feet had both been amputated. 
One of the men who lost the tip of his forefinger by the explosion of a 
cartridge was left with a stump of bone protruding at the end of the 
finger. Our surgeon attempted to treat this, but after two unsuccessful 
trials to etherize the patient he was obliged to giveit tp. When, how- 
ever, the young man’s father-in-law, who was a noted “doctor,” came 
home he said at once that the stump must come off, and the patient 
had to submit to the operation without ether. The “doctor” tried to 
borrow Dr. Oldmixon’s bone forceps, and when these were refused him 
cut the bone off, I believe, with a chisel. They appear to have no cure 
for blindness. We heard nothing of the curious process of *‘ couching” 
described by Egede in Greenland, p. 121. We had no opportunity of 
observing their methods of treating wounds or other external injuries. 
Sufferers were very glad to be treated by our surgeon, and eagerly ac- 
cepted his medicines, though he had considerable difficulty in making 
them obey his directions about taking care of themselves. 
After they had been in the habit of receiving the surgeom’s medicine 
for some time, one of the Utkiavwin natives gave Capt. Herendeen what 
he said was their own medicine. It is a tiny bit of turf which they 
called nuna kinmélq, and which, therefore, probably came from the high- 
land of the upper Meade River, which region bears the name of 
Kinmélq. We were able to get very little information about this sub- 
stance, but my impression is that it was said to be administered in- 
ternally, and I believe was specially recommended for bleeding at the 
lungs. Possibly this is the same as “the black moss that grows ou the 
mountain,” which, according to Crantz? was eaten by the Greenlanders 
to stop blood-spitting. 
CUSTOMS CONCERNING THE DEAD. 
Abstentions.—F rom the fact that we did not hear of any of the deaths 
until after their occurrence, we were able to learn very few of their 
1 Tents, ete., p. 185. 
2Vol. 1, p. 235 
