532 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



always made between the fathers, and to differ in no respect from the 

 transfer of other property, except that none can equal in value the pro- 

 perty thus disposed of. The good sense, good fortune, or extensive claims 

 of some individuals were particularly apparent in this way, from the num- 

 ber of sons they had adopted. Toolemak, deriving perhaps some advan- 

 tage from his qualifications as Angetkook, had taken care to negotiate for 

 the adoption of some of the finest male children of the tribe ; a provision 

 which now appeared the more necessary from his having lost four children 

 of his own/ besides Noogloo, who was one of his tego'd sons. In one of the 

 two instances that came to our knowledge of the adoption of a female child, 

 both its own parents were still living, nor could we ascertain the motive for 

 this deviation from the more general custom. 



In their behaviour to old people, whose age or infirmities render them use- 

 less and therefore burdensome to the community, the Esquimaux betray a 

 degree of insensibility bordering on inhumanity, and ill-repaying the kind- 

 ness of an indulgent parent. The old man Hikkeiera, who was very ill during 

 the winter, used to lie day after day little regarded by his wife, son, daugh- 

 ter, and other relatives, except that his wretched state constituted, as they 

 well knew, a forcible claim upon our charity ; and, with this view, it was sure 

 to excite a whine of sympathy and commiseration whenever we visited or 

 spoke of him. When, however, a journey of ten miles was to be performed 

 over the ice, they left him to find his way with a stick in the best manner he 

 could, while the young and robust ones were many of them drawn on sledges. 

 There is indeed no doubt that, had their necessities or mode of life required 

 a longer journey than he could thus have accomplished, they would have 

 pushed on like the Indians, and left a fellow-creature to perish. It was 

 certainly considered incumbent on his son to support him, and he was for- 

 tunate in that son's being a very good man ; but a few more such journeys to 

 a man of seventy would not impose this incumbrance upon him much longer. 

 Illumea, the mother of several grown-up children, lived also in the same 

 apartment with her youngest son, and in the same hut with her other rela- 

 tions. She did not however interfere, as in Greenland*, with the management 

 of her son's domestic concerns, though his wife was half an idiot. She was 

 always badly clothed, and even in the midst of plenty not particularly well- 

 fed, receiving every thing more as an act of charity than otherwise ; and 



* Crantz, I. 164. 



