SAD DEATH OF TWEKOONG. 



513 



er winding in and out among numerous small islands, we met 

 him. It proved to be Kmguarping, son of Kokerjabin, out seal- 

 hunting. He said there were other Innuits not far off, among 

 them Miner and Kooperneung, with their families, and we quick- 

 ly made toward them. I was glad to learn that these Innuits 

 were so near; for I thought I would take my dogs and sledge, 

 and run up from my next encampment to see my good friend 

 Tweroong. I should have been sadly disappointed had I done 

 so, as will soon appear. Ninguarping then accompanied us to 

 the spot selected for our encampment, and assisted in building an 

 igloo. Soon a sledge of Innuits, with a team of fourteen dogs, 

 came bounding wildly toward us. They were quickly alongside, 

 proving to be our friends " Jack" and "Bill," on their way to an 

 island not far off for a load of walrus beef which was deposited 

 there. They invited us to go to their village. This we did, aban- 

 . doning our half-completed igloo. 



We arrived about 4 P.M., and found a village of five igloos, all 

 inhabited by Innuit families, composed of my old friends and ac- 

 quaintances. Old Too-loo-ka-ah was one of the first whom I saw, 

 and he invited me to his capacious igloo, where his wife, Koo-muk, 

 quickly gave me water to drink and food to eat, the latter being 

 portions of frozen walrus entrails. To say that I enjoyed this 

 food would only be to repeat what I have said before, though, no 

 doubt, many will feel surprised at my being able to eat, as I so 

 frequently did, raw meat, contents of tuktoo paunch, entrails of 

 seals and walrus, whale skin and krang, besides drinking train-oil 

 and blood. 



In the previous December, when on my trip to Jones's Cape 

 after skins, I saw Toolookaah and his wife, and was both sur- 

 prised and gratified to learn that she had an infant ; it was a girl 

 of only two weeks, and had been named Ek-ker-loon. Toolooka- 

 ah was at this time, as I thought, sixty years old, and his wife 

 not less than fifty-five years. When I now saw the parents again 

 on this journey of which I am writing, I inquired for the child, 

 and received the mournfully sad reply, " Tuk-a-woke" meaning it 

 is dead. 



I should add to this record the news I received at the same 

 time of the death of my never-to-be-forgotten friend Tweroong. 

 Oo-soo-kar-lo, son of old Petato, told me that she had died several 

 weeks before. Some days later I obtained the details of her 

 death, and they were truly heart-rending. When her husband, 



K K 



