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ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



der over her tattooed brow. I called to her, ' Nukertou ! Nuker- 

 tou !' but no response came back. The silence of the dead alone 

 remained. 



"I now left for another part of the island, to call her cousin 

 Koodloo. He was asleep in an igloo, and, on awaking him, he ac- 

 companied me back. But I could find no one willing to lend a 

 helping hand ; no one would touch the dead. I therefore determ- 

 ined to lay the corpse out myself. Koodloo would do nothing 

 but hold the lamp, and I had to perform the whole. I put her on 

 a snow bed, crossed her hands upon her breast, closed her lips, 

 and placed lumps of the pure snows of heaven upon her eyelids, 

 with a snow pillow under her head. This done, I then left for 

 the ship, having first taken the precaution to seal up the igloo so 

 as to prevent the dogs from eating up her remains. 



" It was three in the morning when Nukertou died, and as I 

 left her, so did her body remain, unvisited, uncared-for, within 

 that igloo tomb!" 



My journal continues : "It might as well be here stated what 

 occurred in Nukertou's igloo on the arrival of my valuable and 

 esteemed friend Tookoolito, when her husband informed her of 

 the dying condition of Nukertou. To my mind the incident goes 

 to show how strongly are fixed among any people customs, how- 

 ever absurd they may appear to others. 



THE DYING ESQUIMAUX— xSUK-EE-TOU. 



