CHARLES FRANCIS HALL AND THE INNUITS. 



461 



FINDING THE DEAD. 



understood that the success of his incantations depends greatly upon the 

 amount of his fee. 



Upon the whole, the Innuits must be regarded as an amiable and kindly- 

 people. They are exceedingly tender parents, and not unaffectionate husbands 

 and wives. The main exception to their general kindness is their treatment of 

 the aged and infirm. When one, especially a woman, is hopelessly sick or in- 

 firm, she is not unfrequently abandoned. Mr. Hall relates several incidents of 

 this kind which came within his own knowledge. In one case the husband, 

 when he found that his wife was hopelessly sick of consumption, abandoned 

 her, and took another w^hile the poor creature was still alive. The deserted 

 woman lingered several weeks, supplied with food by the neighbors. In anoth- 

 er case a sick woman, in the depth of winter, was left behind in an igloo, with 

 a small quantity of provisions. Hall, learning of this, made an attempt to go 

 to her rescue. But in the mean time a heavy snow-storm had come on, and 

 the igloo was entirely buried, so that no traces of it could be found. A few 

 days after. Hall, accompanied by Ebierbing, made another attempt. The spot 

 was finally found, though the snow lay level above the ice-hut, the position of 



