408 



AECTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



mouth. It did me much good, and I could not help thinking of 

 my present situation as contrasted with that of other civilized 

 men. There, alone, among a people termed " unenlightened, sav- 

 ages, and degraded beings" — away by myself in a newly-discov- 

 ered region, that is, in a district previously untrodden by my own 

 white race — confined by sickness within a shelter that scarcely 

 protects from rain and wind — every thing dripping wet — suffer- 

 ing from the pain of my body, and having no person to procure 

 me what I might want, I am unexpectedly visited by a woman 

 of the land, bearing in her hand a beautiful emblem of civiliza- 

 tion filled with the most dainty dish — boiled salmon — fresh from 

 the river I had just discovered. Truly woman — a good woman — 

 is an angel wherever she is. The vision of Tweroong will long 

 live in my memory. God bless the kind-hearted Innuit for her 

 though tfulness, and her care of the white-man stranger in her own 

 wonderful land. 



During the day Koojesse was using in his soup some pepper 

 which I had brought with me as a condiment. Koomuk desired 

 to taste it, and Koojesse at once gratified her wish. He sifted 

 some into her open hand, and she immediately lapped it up in one 

 dose. The next moment all the contortions, grimaces, jumping, 

 and spitting that could be imagined followed. The woman seem- 

 ed as if stricken with sudden madness, and, when once more calm, 

 declared that nothing should ever induce her to put such vile 

 stuff in her mouth again. An hour later, Toolookaah, Koomuk's 

 wing-a (husband), was served in a similar way. He came into the 

 tent, and, seeing that something from my well-seasoned dish was 

 still left, he desired to have it. What he thus coveted was mere- 

 ly salt and pepper, articles to him unknown. He, thinking it to 

 be a delicacy of the white man's, licked it all up in quick time. 

 The result may be imagined. Though myself sick, I could not 

 control my laughter, in which "Miner" and the other Innuits 

 joined on beholding the poor man's terror and dismay, added to 

 the most comical contortions of his countenance. In Koomuk's 

 case she had only pepper, but Toolookaah had a double dose — 

 pepper and salt— and he suffered accordingly. 



The next day, September 4th, I was still confined to my tent by 

 sickness. The abscess on my shoulder had become so painful that 

 every remedy in my power to apply was resorted to. At length 

 a salve formed of reindeer tallow gave me some relief. During 

 this time every kind attention was paid to me by the Innuit worn- 



