ATHLETE REMAIN S-N O L U K. 
123 
alternate blows on the left shoulder, shooting farther 
and Avith the stronger boAV, carrying the heavier stone 
the greater distance, Avere among their trials of strength. 
I have seen some of these stones at Fortuna Bay and 
Disco Fiord, which remain as they were left at the end 
of the contest, memorials of the athlete Avho sustained 
their Aveight. 
Noluk is a remarkably powerful man, and as straight 
and graceful as an Iroquois. lie is iioav a grandfather 
by his second Avife; but he is still the best hunter of 
the settlement, and disdains to comply Avith the usage 
which would transfer his dog-teams and apparatus of 
the hunt to his groAA r n-up son. During the pestilence 
of 1820 he resided fifty-six miles north of Upernavik, 
at Tessiusak, in hit. 73° 36': I have seen the ruins of 
his hut there. When all the families fled from the 
sick, Noluk still drove his sledge homeAvard and depo¬ 
sited food regularly for his dying Avife. On his last 
visit he saw her through the Avindow a corpse, and his 
infant son sucking at her frozen breast. Parental in¬ 
stinct was mastered by panic: he made his Way to the 
south Avithout crossing the threshold. 
Among the regal perquisites of the Nalegak-soak 
was the questionable privilege of having as many 
Avives as ho could support. Besides this, he had 
little except an imperfectly-defined claim to certain 
proceeds of the hunt. In old times, the subordinate 
Nalegaks, chieftains of minor settlements, held their 
office by a similar title of personal might among 
their immediate felloAvs; thus constituting something 
