BLIND GEORGE'S STORY. 



445 



lunarn ; that these men had built a ship there ; had launched it, 

 and started awaj for their homes ; but that, before they got out 

 of the bay, hands and feet were frozen, and finally the whole of 

 them perished of cold. Ebierbing's statement to me was as fol- 

 lows : 



. Kecollects hearing his father tell of these white men, and how 

 they built a ship. The kodlunas had brought brick, coal, and 

 "heavy stone," and left them on ISTiountelik and at other places 

 about there. His father did not see them, but the first Innuits, 

 who saw them, told other Innuits so, and so it continued to his 

 day. Old Innuits tell young Innuits ; and when they get to be 

 old, they in turn tell it to the young. "When our baby boy," 

 said he, " gets old enough, we tell him all about you, and about 

 all those kodlunas who brought brick, iron, and coal to where you 

 have been, and of the kodlunas who built a ship on Kodlunarn 

 Island. When boy gets to be an old Innuit he tell it to other In- 

 nuits, and so all Innuits will know what we now know." 



Thus, by the simple, unadorned statement of Ebierbing may be 

 known how it is that oral history is preserved among the Innuit 

 people of the North. 



On the day following this conversation, several old Innuits ar- 

 rived from different places ; among them were Ugarng, with his 

 two wives and child ; " Bob," his wife " Polly," and children ; 

 " Johnny Bull" and Kokerzhun, and Blind Greorge, with his dar- 

 ling girl Kookooyer. Ugarng had left his mother, old Ookijoxy 

 Ninoo, at Cornelius Grinnell Bay, so that I was unable to obtain 

 from her any additional information concerning the relics I had 

 found ; but the others all confirmed the story already given to me 

 about the white men, and what they had left behind. 



The testimony of Blind Greorge was particularly interesting, 

 from the circumstances under which he gave it. Being unable to 

 see, he by signs and motions mapped out the position of various 

 places in Countess of Warwick's Sound, where these things had 

 been noticed by him before losing his sight. Placing his hand 

 on his own person, he said, " Oopungnewing ;" then placing it on a 

 corner of a sea-chest in the main cabin, where we were, he contin- 

 ued, "ISTiountelik;" then pointing with his finger to a spot on the 

 table, he said, " Twer-puk-ju-a ;" to another, "Kodlunarn;" to an- 

 other, " Tikkoon." Before he could place all to satisfy him, he 

 went back and repeated his steps frequently, at last accomplish- 

 ing the geographical feat satisfactorily to himself and quite to my 



