476 



ARCTIC RESEARCH EXPEDITION. 



side, having caught the spirit of her inspiring thought and elo- 

 quence, seized another handful of her venerable hairs, lifting them 

 up too. Then, with increasing emphasis, Petato proceeded, pro- 

 nouncing wich-ou at first with strong voice, then with louder and 

 louder voice, till the final pronunciation of the word, when her 

 whole soul seemed on fire, her face glorified by the spirit of her 

 earnestness, and, as if attempting to measure infinity, she looked 

 wildly to the right, to the left, then turned her head behind, while 

 her voice burst forth as a thunderbolt, leaving the word wich-ou 

 ringing in my ears still. 



" The word 1 wich-ou,' in Innuit, has two significations. For in- 

 stance : Suppose I say to an Innuit, L Ki-ete wong-aJ (Come here to 

 me), If he should not be prepared just at the moment, he would 

 say ' Wich-ou 1 (Wait a while, or I'll come in a short time). In 

 the other signification it refers to time past. For instance : Sup- 

 pose I should ask an Innuit when his people were very numer- 

 ous here North, he might answer ' Wich-ou 1 (that is, a long time 

 ago). In this latter sense Petato uses this word. 



"Petato proceeded: l Kod-lu-nas ki-ete in-e-tete nu-na make it 

 am-a-su-it 1 ("White people came and landed on the island, and put 

 things on it in large quantities). The old lady has been much 

 around the ships, and occasionally uses an English word when 

 conversing with those who talk that language. It will be seen 

 that she used to good effect the two words ir make it] in her last 

 sentence. 



" She continued : ' Wich-ou hod-lu-nas in-e-tete make it Kod-lu- 

 narvu (After a while white men sat down — made a house or 

 houses on Kodlunarn). She described this house by placing one 

 stone upon another, indicating by some snow placed between that 

 some substance of white color was between the layers of stone. 



" Petato was then asked the question, l Kis-su kod-lu-nas in-e-tete 

 man-erf (What is now on the island that kodlunas left there?) 

 She answered that a great many little pieces, red {oug% were on 

 the island, such as Innuits use to clean and brighten their kar- 

 oo-rigs (brass ornaments for the head). 



" When Petato was asked 1 who told her all about kodlunas 

 coming here, and the many ships that come in this bay,' she an- 

 swered, 1 My mother's grandmother's grandfather knew a good 

 deal about it.' The inference is that Petato's mother told her 



* Oug really means blood, but the Innuits use this word to signify any thing red 

 when talking with a stranger not well versed in their language. 



