384 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



seals, but which, as will shortly be seen, were quite another sort 

 of game. 



I walked among gigantic old rocks, well marked by the hand 

 of Time, and then wandered away up the mountains. There I 

 came across an Innuit grave. It was simply a number of stones 

 piled up in such a way as to leave just room enough for the dead 

 body without a stone touching it. All the stones were covered 

 with the moss of generations. During my walk a storm of wind 

 and rain came on, and compelled me to take shelter under the lee 

 of a friendly ridge of rocks. There I could watch Koojesse and 

 his company in the boat advancing toward what was thought 

 an ookgook and many smaller seals. All at once what had 

 seemed to be the ookgook commenced moving, and so likewise 

 did the smaller seals. A slight turn of the supposed game sud- 

 denly gave to all a different appearance. I then perceived a boat, 

 with black gunwales, filled with Innuit men, women, and chil- 

 dren, and also kias on each side of the boat. Seeing this, Koo- 

 jesse pulled in for me, and we started together for the strangers. 

 A short time, however, proved them to be friends. The large 

 boat contained "Miner," his wife Tweroong, To-loo-ka-ah, his wife 

 Koo-muh (louse), the woman Puto, and several others whom I 

 knew. They were spending the summer up there deer-hunting, 

 and had been very successful. Soon after joining them we all 

 disembarked in a snug little harbor, and erected our tents in com- 

 pany on Eae's Point,* which is close by an island called by the 

 natives No-ook-too-ad-loo. 



The rain was pouring down when we landed, and the bustle 

 that followed reminded me of similar activity on the steam-boat 

 piers at home. As fast as things were taken out of the boats, 

 such as had to be kept dry were placed under the shelving of 

 rocks until the tupics were up. Then, our encampment formed, 

 all parties had leisure to greet each other, which we did most 

 warmly. 



Tweroong was very ill, and appeared to me not far from her 

 death. Her uniform kindness to me wherever I had met her 

 made her condition a source of sadness to me. I could only ex- 

 press my sympathy, and furnish her with a few civilized com- 

 forts brought with me. She was the mother of Kooperneung, 

 one of my crew, by her first husband, then deceased. 



* Named by the author after Dr. John Rae, the well-known English arctic explorer 

 Rae's Point, place of our ninth encampment, is in lat. 63° 20' N., long. 67° 33' W, 



