THE DREADED LAND. 



281 



Such was the cufrent of my thoughts at the time I was in 

 the old lady's tupic and listening to her words ; and, let me add, 

 such are now my thoughts, and, so far as may be permitted, such 

 are my intentions. 



In continuation of my interview with the aged Innuit, I asked 

 her why Innuits, as I had been informed, do not now live upon 

 the land beyond Bear Sound, extending eastward between the 

 waters of Frobisher Bay and Field Bay ? 



To this, as interpreted, she said, 



"A great many years ago, before I (Ookijoxy Ninoo) was 

 born, the Innuits all around these bays were very many. The 

 number of Innuits on Ki-ki-tuk-ju-a (LoWs Land of Frobisher) and 

 the other islands in that direction was great ; but at one time 

 they were nearly all out on the ice, when it separated from the 

 land and took them out to sea. They never came back, nor did 

 any Innuit ever hear of them again. Since then, Innuits never 

 live there, nor ever visit the place." 



As she spoke about this catastrophe she did so under evident 

 feelings of constraint and horror; and when I asked if she had 

 ever visited it, her emphatic reply was, 11 Never / Nevek!" 



This accounted to me for much apparent mystery which I had 

 noticed respecting the region in question whenever I addressed 

 any Innuit upon the subject. They could not — or would not — 

 give me any information about it ; and when I once tried to get 

 a company of natives to go there with me, all refused. Yet ev- 

 ery year they make frequent passages, backward and forward 

 through the channel Is-se-hi-suh-ju-a (called by Frobisher Bear 

 Sound), dividing the " ill-fated land" from the main. 



The old woman farther added that the Innuits had lived on 

 that land, as Innuits do live — that is, moving about wherever 

 food can be had — both before and after the white men's ships 

 came years ago; but, since the great disaster occurred which 

 swept so many of her people away, no Innuits would go there. 



After eliciting all the information I then could from the old 

 woman, I left her, with great astonishment at her powers of mem- 

 ory, and the remarkable way in which this strange people of the 

 icy North, who have no written language, can correctly preserve 

 history from one generation to another. 



Nine generations had passed away since the visit of Frobisher, 

 yet now, on the 11th of May, 1861, 1 received from an old wom- 

 an, probably a hundred, years old, statements which I could not 



