REMARKABLE ECHO. 



177 



CHAPTEE X. 



Remarkable Echo. — Visit of "Sampson." — Innuit Mode of Washing the Face. — 

 "Job's Comforters." — "Bridge of Sighs." — Mothers nursing their Children. — 

 Serviceable Hoods. — Tails of Innuit Dresses. — Cold in Winter endurable. — Ex- 

 traordinary mild Weather. — Igloos in Ruins. — Kelp used for Food. — Christmas 

 and New Year's Day. — Sick Nukertou. — Inattention to the Infirm and Dying. — 

 Cruel Abandonment. — Innuit Superstitions. — Author's lonely Watch. — Death of 

 Nukertou. — The female Angeko. — Kooperarchu's Death. — Reflections. — Innuit 

 Idea of a Future State. 



The month of December came in, as I have previously said, 

 with a great calm of four days, and though the ice was then much 

 broken up, making a transit to the shore difficult, yet I contrived 

 to frequently land for exercise, and to see more of Innuit life. 



One day, while walking near a channel between two islands, I 

 heard a very remarkable echo, of so striking a character that an 

 Innuit boy and three dogs, near at hand, could hear my voice 

 only through its reflected sound. The tide was out, leaving a 

 rock bluff on the opposite side of the channel, whence the sound 

 was reverberated. After giving utterance to my voice, in one 

 second of time the echo came back to me, thus making the dis- 

 tance across 550 feet, as sound travels 1100 feet per second. 



On December 8th, at noon, the thermometer was at zero, and 

 on the 9th, 15° below zero, or 47° below the freezing point. Yet, 

 strangely to me, the cold was not felt so much as I should have 

 supposed. The ice was solid around us, and our good ship quite 

 laid up in winter quarters. Now and then we could hear some 

 heavy and startling cracks, as if disruption was about to take 

 place ; but nothing of any note occurred to disturb or to vary the 

 usual monotonous life on board. Visits from the Esquimaux 

 were made daily, and often we had several sleeping on the cabin 

 floor and on sea-chests in impromptu beds made of sails, thick 

 wearing apparel, etc., and a curious picture it was thus to see 

 them. Frequently, accompanied by some of these visitors, I went 

 to their village and to the islands around us, always being received 

 by the natives in the most friendly manner. 



Once we had a stranger arrive who had formerly lived near 



M 



