276 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



and, seizing his left shoulder in its jaws, threw him high over its 

 head, as if he had been a mere bag of feathers ! Bob fell about 

 four fathoms off, and was getting up, when the bear again laid 

 hold of him, this time by the leg, and gave him another toss. The 

 dogs, however, now managed to keep the animal at bay; and 

 Moose coming to Bob's aid, they bravely renewed the attack, un- 

 til at length these courageous Innuits succeeded in conquering 

 the brute. Unfortunately, they lost him after all their trouble, 

 for the ice broke, and the tide swept their prize away. 



I saw the scars of the wounds inflicted by this monster, Bob 

 taking off his reindeer dress in the main cabin to gratify me. 



Captain B said that the laceration was terrible, for he had 



seen it a few clays after the occurrence, and administered such re- 

 lief as was in his power. Bob was undoubtedly a powerful man, 

 muscular, full-breasted, of great nerve, and firm as iron. When 

 he stripped I had a good opportunity to see this, and he allowed 

 me to take the measurement of his body. 7 



On the 10th of May Ebierbing's grandmother, the aged Ookijoxy 

 Ninoo, arrived with him from Cornelius Grinnell Bay, where he 

 had been to fetch her to his home. I was anxious for a conver- 

 sation with her, as she could give me much information, from na- 

 tive traditions and personal observation, about the Frobisher ex- 

 peditions of 1576-8 ; but it was not until the next day that I had 

 the opportunity. 



Next morning I went on shore at Cooper's Island, a small isl- 

 and near the George Henry in Eescue Harbor, where Ebierbing, 

 Tookoolito, and Ookijoxy Ninoo lived in tupics. Our conversa- 

 tion commenced by my leading the way, through Ebierbing, his 

 wife acting as interpreter, which, aided by my own increasing 

 knowledge of the language, enabled me to quite understand the 

 old lady's narrative. 



Ebierbing said that " he well recollected, when a boy, seeing, on 

 an island near Oopungnewing, oug (something red, which I inferred, 

 from his subsequent explanation, to mean bricks) and coal At 

 that time he knew not what those things were, but when he visit- 

 ed England in 1855, he there saw bricks, and understood their 

 use for the first time. Coal he had seen on board an English 

 whaler previous to that, but not until years after his noticing these 

 things on the island. He said he used to play with these bricks, 

 piling them up in rows and in various forms, as children often 

 do, and also marked stones with them, and was delighted to see 



