THE ESKIMO OF STUPART BAY. 105 



feet long, dogs were lying and i-unning about in all directions and 

 until quieted by their master seemed rather disposed to resent my 

 intrusion. Having passed through the passage, I crawled through 

 another hole and found myself in the dwelling of and among an 

 Eskimo family. The stench was frightful. Cries of "Chimo," inter- 

 mingled with those of " tobaccomik," greeted my entrance. On the 

 right of the raised portion of the house squatted Pugweek's wife. She 

 might have had on more clothing, but I presume she had not yet 

 made her morning toilet. She was very ugly, astonishingly dirty, 

 and had no teeth. I gave her half a plug of tobacco, for which she said 

 Ne-cook-a-mik, and immediately asked for matches — " matchemik." 

 Pugweek's sister, Polin-a-chuor, was squatting close by ; she too set 

 up a howl for tobacco and I gave her a piece. She proved the most 

 inveterate beggar and greatest nuisance among the women. Children 

 of all sizes were lying on the bed covered up with dirty skins, they 

 too asked for tobacco, but did not get any. 



I afterwards discovered in a very practical way that Pugweek was 

 a great thief. I also discovered that about 1860 he had taken part 

 in the massacre of a boat^s crew. The {Hudson's Bay Co.'s ship 

 " Kitty " was wrecked near Cape Wolfstenholme ; out of a crew of 

 about seventeen, ten were killed by the Eskimo while endeavoring to 

 land from the wreck, the remainder, escaping down the coast in a 

 boat, were massacred while asleep by the Eskimo of Prince of Wales' 

 Sound. Two others of the murderers besides Pugweek were my 

 near neighbors, Cowjut and Ne-bo-cart. These men are not permit- 

 ted to visit the Hudson's Bay post at Ungava. 



The next igloo I went into was that belonging to Cowk-to-wayo, 

 a quiet old man who had welcomed us when the steamer first arrived ; 

 we all then thought that he was a chief among his people, but I sub- 

 sequently discovered that there is no chief ; all members of a family 

 to a limited degree owe obedience to the head of that family, but as 

 far as I could learn no common chief is recognized by diflferenfc 

 families ; the most successful hunters are as a rule the men who are 

 most respected. 



Cowk-to-wayo's igloo was very like that of Pugweek. The old 

 man was sitting next to his wife, a very talkative little woman, who 

 evidently thought that the one thing worth living for was smoking, 

 and further that the whites having been sent to Hudson Straits to keep 

 the Innuit (Eskimo; supplied with tobacco, it was my bounden duty to 



