On entering Wolstenholme Sound[3], Kallihirua, or, as he was
familiarly called, KALLI, directed Captain Ommanney and the officers
to the late winter-station of his tribe, the spot having been
abandoned in consequence of some epidemic, probably influenza, which
had carried off several persons. On entering the huts, a most
distressing sight presented itself. A heap of dead bodies, about
seven, in a state of decomposition, lay, one over the other, clad in
their skin-clothing, as if suddenly cut off by the hand of death. The
survivors, from fear of infection, had left the remains of their
relatives unburied. It was an affecting scene in such a remote and
desolate region, separated from all communication with the human race.
Near the huts was the burial-ground, with several well-formed graves
of heaps of stones. On one lay a spear, which one of the officers of
the "Assistance" took up, to bring away. Some of the crew were
examining the graves to see whether they contained any of our missing
countrymen. Seeing this, Kalli ran up to the officer, and, with tears
and entreaties, as well as he could make himself understood, begged
him and the men to desist from the work of desecration.
[Footnote 3: For Wolstenholme Sound and Cape York see the annexed map.]
[Illustration: Map of Western Arctic]
[Illustration: THE ARCTIC REGIONS OF AMERICA
_London. Published by the Society for protecting Christian Knowledge._]