406 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



bers before my eye. Words can not express my delight, in view 

 of this scene, as I stood by the waterfall, beholding its white spray, 

 and the clear, limpid stream of the river. 



The fall is about twenty-five feet in three or four rods, and at 

 no place over four feet descent at once. The river is not so large 

 as the Sylvia Grinnell, and yet, though the season is evidently a 

 dry one, much water flows along, and at certain portions of the 

 year this stream must discharge a large quantity. The banks in 

 some places are of fine sand, and in others, farther up, of ledges 

 of rocks that are from fifty to sixty feet high. I wandered about 

 for two hours, and then returned to our camp. 



Miner's boat was out at the time, but I soon saw it approaching 

 at great speed, its crew shouting lustily. In a moment I perceived 

 the cause of their excitement. A white whale was swiftly mak- 

 ing its way through the waters toward the main bay. The In- 

 nuits were after it, and their shouting voices made the neighbor- 

 hood ring again ; but it escaped, and the boat came to our en- 

 campment, the occupants in no good humor. One of the men, 

 Charley, clearly proved this. His wife was helping to unload the 

 boat, and had to walk through deep mud with a heavy load upon 

 her shoulder. Suddenly, for some unknown cause, Charley, with 

 great force, threw his seal-hook directly at her. It caught in her 

 jacket. Turning round, she calmly took it out, and then walked 

 on again. It was a cruel act of the man, but these Innuits always 

 summarily punish their wives for any real or imaginary offense. 

 They seize the first thing at hand — a stone, knife, hatchet, or spear 

 — and throw it at the offending woman, just as they would at their 

 dogs. 



/Two of our party were still absent. Koojesse, however, made 

 his appearance on the opposite side of the river, and it was nec- 

 essary to send the kia to fetch him off. Now a kia has but one 

 hole in its covering for the person who uses it ; therefore, if a sec- 

 ond person is to be carried any where, he or she must take a po- 

 sition directly behind the other occupant, lying flat on the face, 

 perfectly straight and still. It was in this manner that Koojesse, 

 and afterward Toolookaah, were brought off. 



I had another walk up to the falls, and again the scene appear- 

 ed to me as one of the most beautiful I had ever beheld. I felt 

 like those old Icelanders who visited the regions west of them, 

 and, because of more verdure seen than in their own country, ex- 

 claimed, " This is Greenland !" In the present case, my feeling 



