362 ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



brick ?) To make her understand 1 brick J I took up a small stone 

 spotted over with a peculiar red moss, calling her attention to 

 the red ; and then, taking off her head ornament — 'kar-oong 1 * (a 

 rounded, polished piece of brass in the form of a semicircle, fitted 

 to and worn on the head by the Innuit women as an adornment), 

 I made motions as if polishing it, for I knew, from information I 

 had gained from time to time, that Innuits had procured pieces 

 of brick somewhere on or in the neighborhood of the island on 

 which we were, and used them specially for brightening their or- 

 naments, to wit, hair-rings (toong-le-le-une), finger-rings (nuk-gwer- 

 ming\ and kar-oongs. 



" Koo-ou-le-arng knew by my description what I desired to 

 find, but did not seem to recollect where she had seen brick ; 

 though, from her expressions and conduct, I was satisfied she had 

 seen mik-e-oo-koo-loo (small) pieces somewhere in the vicinity. 

 Gaining the top of the island, we made search there for relics, but 

 found none. I looked specially for some signs of a stone monu- 

 ment, which I conceived Frobisher might in his day (if he visited 

 this island) have erected, this being the highest point of the whole 

 island. But none whatever could I find. Thence we directed 

 our way down on the west side to a small grassy slope, not 

 far from the termination of the island. Here we made careful 

 search, but without finding any thing that I so ardently wished. 

 Thence we commenced to make a circuit of the island, moving 

 along as near the coast as the bluff rocks would permit, keeping 

 the main island at our right — that is, continuing northwest, then 

 around to the north, thence northeast and east. At the north- 

 west end of the island we found abundance of evidence that In- 

 nuits had made Niountelik a stopping-place. There we saw the 

 usual circles of stones, always to be seen where Innuits have had 

 their tupics (summer tents). We saw seal, walrus, tuktoo (rein- 

 deer), meituk (duck), and various other bones in abundance, some 

 moss-aged, and some nearly fresh, of not more than two or three 

 years' exposure. Here we found also pieces of wood, some with 

 the ends charred, small pieces of tuktoo skins, and one relic of 

 civilization — a piece of an old calico dress ! This did not excite 

 me as a matter extraordinary, as I knew that the whalers now 

 visit every year the inlet at the north, called 'Northumberland 

 Inlet' (the 1 Cumberland Straits' of Davis), and distribute freely 

 among the Innuits various articles of civilization, especially cast- 



* For the way this ornament is worn, see head of Nik-u-jar, page 154. 



