104 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



turn, ferociously attacked and destroyed him and his boat. By 

 this husband she had one son, often mentioned in my journal as 

 " Captain." Her third husband was Kudlago, who had also been 

 previousjy married to a woman named Ne-ve-chad-loo, by whom 

 two daughters, Kok-er-zhun and Kim-mi-loo, were born to him. The 

 first of these was a pretty young woman, aged twenty-three, and 

 married to Shi-mer-ar-chu ("Johnny Bull"), who was always ex- 

 ceedingly jealous of her. Kimmiloo was an interesting girl of 

 about sixteen years old. By Kok-er-jab-in no children were born. 

 She and her third husband did not get on happily together. On 

 one occasion this woman was nearly dead from a severe dropsical 

 complaint. The angeko was then called in, and his wife's brother 

 undertook to perform an operation for her cure. This he did in 

 the following manner: Ebierbing held Kokerjabin while the op- 

 erator, with a sort of lancet having a blade three inches long, 

 stabbed her quickly and forcibly in the abdomen. Water poured 

 forth copiously and soon after this she recovered. 



At the time of my first arrival among these Innuits, several of 

 them were in different places hunting and fishing; but I afterward 

 became so well acquainted with them, and was on such familiar 

 terms, that they and others I shall introduce seemed almost of my 

 own family. 



But I will now proceed with my own personal narrative. 



In the afternoon, accompanied by Sterry, Grardiner, and Lamb. 

 I went on shore. There I visited several of the natives in their 

 tupics — summer skin-tents. 



The honesty of this people is remarkable. I noticed on the 

 beach coal, wood, four tubs of whale-line, tar, oil-casks, mincing 

 machine, coils of rope, trying kettles, harpoons, lances, etc., all left 

 here since the previous fall, and yet as safe as on board the ship ! 

 Another trait of their character, however, is not at all commend- 

 able. One of the first things attracting my attention, close to the 

 tents, was the skeleton of an Innuit, or Esquimaux woman, just 

 as she had died some three years before ! She had been sick, and 

 was left to take care of herself. The remains of her tent — her 

 skin bedding, her stone lamp, and other domestic articles, were 

 still by her side. This inattention to the sick and dead is a cus- 

 tom of the Esquimaux, and, in another place, I shall again refer 

 to it. 



When I returned on board, Kudlago's wife had just arrived. 

 She had heard on shore of her husband's death, and at once, with 



