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AKCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



time, and Tookoolito herself was busy knitting socks for her hus- 

 band ! Yes, to my surprise, she was thus engaged, as if she had 

 been in a civilized land and herself civilized, instead of being an 

 Esquimaux in her own native wilds of ice and snow ! 



It was a strange contrast, the sight within that tent and the 

 view without. The latter presented a picture of barrenness and 

 storm ; the former much that tended to the idea of warmth and 

 home. Knitting stockings for her husband ! How much of dear 

 home was in that favorite domestic occupation ! Then, too, her 

 voice, her words and language, the latter in my own vernacular, 

 were something more than common in that region. I have before 

 said that she was peculiarly pleasing and refined in her style and 

 manners ; and now, while sheltering me beneath her hospitable 

 roof, with the bright lamp before me, the lively prattle of the two 

 boys came in strong contrast to the soft tones of her partly civil- 

 ized tongue as my mind opened to receive all she uttered. 



What she said, and what my impressions were at the time, will 

 be found in the following extract from my journal : 



" November 14$, 1860. Tookoolito, after returning from En- 

 gland five years ago, where she and her zuing-a (husband) spent 

 twenty months, commenced diffusing her accomplishments in 'va- 

 rious ways, to wit, teaching the female portion of the nation, such 

 as desired, to knit, and the various useful things practiced by civ- 

 ilization. In all the places around Northumberland Inlet she has 

 lived, and done what she could to improve her people. A singu- 

 lar fact relative to dressing her hair, keeping her face and hands 

 cleanly, and wearing civilization dresses — others of her sex, in con- 

 siderable numbers, follow these fashions imported by her. This 

 shows to me what one person like Tookoolito could accomplish 

 in the way of the introduction of schools and churches among 

 this people. To give this woman an education in the States, and 

 subsequent employment in connection with several of our mis- 

 sionaries, would serve to advance a noble and good work. And 

 yet I must state that, unless a working colony, or several of them, 

 were established, co-operating in this work, and laws were made 

 by the fundamental power that should be as rigid relative to whal- 

 ers visiting the coasts as those of Denmark to Greenland, all would 

 be as naught. 



" The working or trading colony would make its government, 

 school, and church institutions self-supporting. Let the plan of 

 Denmark for Greenland be followed. It is a good one, and works 

 well. 



