OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. 



547 



to withhold the vegetable acid, and it was not recurred to while he remained 

 on board. Urged by impatience of control he left us to join his countrymen 

 before he had well regained his strength, but we saw him on board several 

 times afterwards in a progressive state of improvement, and though yet weak 

 free from scorbutic symptoms. Another instance offered in a woman, whom 

 I saw but once. Her gums were spongy and reverted, but not discoloured, 

 her countenance sallow, lips pale, and she suffered under general debility, 

 without local pain or rigidity of the limbs. She remained in this state for a 

 long time, and eventually as the weather improved recovered without assist- 

 ance. 



" That affection of the eyes, known by the name of snow- blindness, is ex- 

 tremely frequent among these people. With them it scarcely ever goes beyond 

 painful irritation, whilst among strangers inflammation is sometimes the con- 

 sequence. I have not seen them use any other remedy besides the exclu- 

 sion of light ; but, as a preventive, a wooden eye-screen is worn, very 

 simple in its construction, consisting of a curved piece of wood six or seven 

 inches long, and ten or twelve lines broad, (4.) It is tied over the eyes like 

 a pair of spectacles, being adapted to the forehead and nose, and hollowed 

 out to favour the motion of the eye-lids. A few rays of light only are 

 admitted through a narrow slit an inch long, cut opposite to each eye. This 

 contrivance is more simple and quite as efficient as the more heavy one pos- 

 sessed by some who have been fortunate enough to acquire wood for the 

 purpose. This is merely the former instrument, complicated by the addition 

 of a horizontal plate projecting three or four inches from its upper rim like 

 the peak of a jockey's cap. In Hudson's Strait the latter is common, and 

 the former in Greenland, where also we are told they wear with advantage 

 the simple horizontal peak alone. 



" There are upon the whole no people more destitute of curative means 

 than these. With the exception of the hemorrhage already mentioned, which 

 they duly appreciate, and have been observed to excite artificially to cure 

 head-ach, they are ignorant of any rational method of procuring relief. It 

 has not been ascertained that they use a single herb medicinally. As pro- 

 phylactics they wear amulets, which are usually the teeth, bones, or hair of 

 some animal, the more rare apparently the more valuable. In absolute sick- 

 ness they depend entirely upon their Angekoks, who, they persuade them- 

 selves, have influence over some submarine deities who govern their destiny. 

 The mummeries of these impostors, consisting in pretended consultations 



4 A 2 



