Preparations for the Winter.--Various Meteorological Phenomena to
the close of the year 1822.--Sickness among the
Esquimaux.--Meteorological Phenomena to the end of March.
_November_.--The measures now adopted for the security of the ships and
their stores, for the maintenance of economy, cleanliness, and health,
and for the prosecution of the various observations and experiments,
being principally the same as those already detailed in the preceding
winter's narrative, I shall be readily excused for passing them over in
silence.
The daily visits of the Esquimaux to the ships throughout the winter
afforded, both to officers and men, a fund of constant variety and
never-failing amusement, which no resources of our own could possibly
have furnished. Our people were, however, too well aware of the
advantage they derived from the schools not to be desirous of their
re-establishment, which accordingly took place soon after our arrival at
Igloolik; and they were glad to continue this as their evening
occupation during the six succeeding months.
The year closed with the temperature of -42°, the mean of the month of
December having been 27° 8', which, taken in connexion with that of
November, led us to expect a severe winter.
About the middle of the month of December several of the Esquimaux had
moved from the huts at Igloolik, some taking up their quarters on the
ice at a considerable distance to the northwest, and the rest about a
mile outside the summer station of the tents. At the close of the year
from fifty to sixty individuals had thus decamped, their object being,
like that of other savages on _terra firma_, to increase their means of
subsistence by covering more ground; their movements were arranged so
quietly that we seldom heard of their intentions till they were gone. At
the new stations they lived entirely in huts of snow; and the northerly
and easterly winds were considered by them most favourable for their
fishing, as these served to bring in the loose ice, on which they
principally kill the walruses.
Towards the latter end of January [1823], the accounts from the huts, as
well from the Esquimaux as from our own people, concurred in stating
that the number of the sick, as well as the seriousness of their
complaints, was rapidly increasing there. We had, indeed, scarcely heard
of the illness of a woman named _Kei-m=o=o-seuk_, who, it seemed,
had lately miscarried, when an account arrived of her death. She was one
of the two wives of _Ooyarra_, one of Captain Lyon's fellow-travellers
in the summer, who buried her in the snow, about two hundred yards from
the huts, placing slabs of the same perishable substance over the body,
and cementing them by pouring a little water in the interstices. Such an
interment was not likely to be a very secure one; and, accordingly, a
few days after, the hungry dogs removed the snow and devoured the body.
Captain Lyon gave me the following account of the death and burial of
another poor woman and her child:
"The mother, Poo-too-alook, was about thirty-five years of age, the
child about three years--yet not weaned, and a female; there was
also another daughter, Shega, about twelve or thirteen years of
age, who, as well as her father, was a most attentive nurse. My
hopes were but small, as far as concerned the mother; but the child
was so patient that I hoped, from its docility, soon to accustom it
to soups and nourishing food, as its only complaint was actual
starvation. I screened off a portion of my cabin, and arranged some
bedding for them, in the same manner as the Esquimaux do their own.
Warm broth, dry bedding, and a comfortable cabin, did wonders
before evening, and our medical men gave me great hopes. As an
introduction to a system of cleanliness, and preparatory to
washing the sick, who were in a most filthy state, I scrubbed Shega
and her father from head to foot, and dressed them in new clothes.
During the night I persuaded both mother and child, who were very
restless, and constantly moaning, to take a few spoonfuls of soup.
On the morning of the 24th the woman appeared considerably
improved, and she both spoke and ate a little. As she was covered
with so thick a coating of dirt that it could be taken off in
scales, I obtained her assent to wash her face and hands a little
before noon. The man and his daughter now came to my table to look
at some things I had laid out to amuse them; and, after a few
minutes, Shega lifted up the curtain to look at her mother, when
she again let it fall, and tremblingly told us she was dead.
"The husband sighed heavily, the daughter burst into tears, and the
poor little infant made the moment more distressing by calling in a
plaintive tone on its mother, by whose side it was lying. I
determined on burying the woman on shore, and the husband was much
pleased at my promising that the body should be drawn on a sledge
by men instead of dogs; for, to our horror, Takkeelikkeeta had told
me that dogs had eaten part of Keimooseuk, and that, when he left
the huts with his wife, one was devouring the body as he passed it.
"Takkeelikkeeta now prepared to dress the dead body, and, in the
first place, stopped his nose with deer's hair and put on his
gloves, seeming unwilling that his naked hand should come in
contact with the corpse. I observed, in this occupation, his care
that every article of dress should be as carefully placed as when
his wife was living; and, having drawn the boots on the wrong legs,
he pulled them off again and put them properly. This ceremony
finished, the deceased was sewed up in a hammock, and, at the
husband's urgent request, her face was left uncovered. An officer
who was present at the time agreed with me in fancying that the
man, from his words and actions, intimated a wish that the living
child might be enclosed with its mother. We may have been mistaken,
but there is an equal probability that we were right in our
conjecture; for, according to Crantz and Egede, the Greenlanders
were in the habit of burying their motherless infants, from a
persuasion that they must otherwise starve to death, and also from
being unable to bear the cries of the little ones while lingering
for several days without sustenance; for no woman will give them
any share of their milk, which they consider as the exclusive
property of their own offspring. My dogs being carefully tied up at
the man's request, a party of our people, accompanied by me, drew
the body to the shore, where we made a grave, about a foot deep,
being unable to get lower on account of the frozen earth. The body
was placed on its back, at the husband's request, and he then
stepped into the grave and cut all the stitches of the hammock,
although without throwing it open, seeming to imply that the dead
should be left unconfined. I laid a woman's knife by the side of
the body, and we filled up the grave, over which we also piled a
quantity of heavy stones, which no animal could remove. When all
was done and we returned to the ship, the man lingered a few
minutes behind us and repeated two or three sentences, as if
addressing himself to his departed wife; he then silently followed.
We found Shega quite composed, and attending her little sister,
between whose eyebrows she had made a spot with soot, which I
learned was because, being unweaned, it must certainly die. During
the night my little charge called on its mother without
intermission, yet the father slept as soundly until morning as if
nothing had happened.
"All who saw my patient on the morning of the 25th gave me great
hopes; she could swallow easily, and was even strong enough to turn
or sit upright without assistance, and in the forenoon slept very
soundly. At noon, the sister of the deceased, Ootooguak, with her
husband and son, came to visit me. She had first gone to the Fury,
and was laughing on deck, and, at her own request, was taken below,
not caring to hurry herself to come to the house of mourning. Even
when she came to the Hecla she was in high spirits, laughing and
capering on deck as if nothing had happened; but, on being shown to
my cabin, where Shega, having heard of her arrival, was sitting
crying in readiness, she began with her niece to howl most wofully.
I, however, put a stop to this ceremony, for such it certainly was,
under the plea of disturbing the child. The arrival of a pot of
smoking walrus-flesh soon brought smiles on all faces but that of
Takkeelikkeeta, who refused food and sat sighing deeply; the others
ate, chatted, and laughed as if nothing but eating was worth
thinking of. Dinner being over, I received thanks for burying the
woman in such a way that 'neither wolves, dogs, nor foxes could dig
her up and eat her,' for all were full of the story of Keimooseuk,
and even begged some of our officers to go to Igloolik and shoot
the offending dogs. A young woman named Ablik, sister to Ooyarra,
was induced, after much entreaty and a very large present of beads,
to offer her breast to the sick child, but the poor little creature
pushed it angrily away. Another woman was asked to do the same;
but, although her child was half weaned, she flatly refused.
"The aunt of my little one seeming anxious to remain, and Shega
being now alone, I invited her to stop the night. In the evening
the child took meat and jelly, and sat up to help itself, but it
soon after resumed its melancholy cry for its mother. At night my
party had retired to sleep; yet I heard loud sighing occasionally,
and, on lifting the curtain, I saw Takkeelikkeeta standing and
looking mournfully at his child. I endeavoured to compose him, and
he promised to go to bed; but, hearing him again sighing in a few
minutes, I went and found the poor infant was dead, and that its
father had been some time aware of it. He now told me it had seen
its mother the last time it called on her, and that she had
beckoned it to Khil-la (Heaven), on which it instantly died. He
said it was 'good' that the child was gone; that no children
outlived their mothers; and that the black spot, which Shega had
frequently renewed, was quite sufficient to ensure the death of the
infant.
"My party made a hearty breakfast on the 26th, and I observed they
did not scruple to lay the vessel containing the meat on the dead
child, which I had wrapped in a blanket; and this unnatural table
excited neither disgust nor any other feeling among them more than
a block of wood could have done. We now tied up all the dogs, as
Takkeelikkeeta had desired, and took the child about a quarter of a
mile astern of the ships, to bury it in the snow; for the father
assured me that her mother would cry in her grave if any weight of
stones or earth pressed on her infant. She herself, he feared, had
already felt pain from the monument of stones which we had laid
upon her. The snow in which we dug the child's grave was not above
a foot deep, yet we were not allowed to cut into the ice, or even
use any slabs of it in constructing the little tomb. The body,
wrapped in a blanket, and having the face uncovered, being placed,
the father put the slings by which its deceased mother had carried
it on the right side, and, in compliance with the Esquimaux custom
of burying toys and presents with their dead, I threw in some
beads. A few loose slabs of snow were now placed so as to cover,
without touching, the body, and with this very slight sepulchre the
father was contented, although a fox could have dug through it in
half a minute. We, however, added more snow, and cemented all by
pouring about twenty buckets of water, which were brought from the
ship, on every part of the mound. I remarked that, before our task
was completed, the man turned and walked quietly to the ships.
"During the last two days I obtained some information with respect
to mourning ceremonies, or, at all events, such as related to the
loss of a mother of a family; three days were to be passed by the
survivors without their walking on the ice, performing any kind of
work, or even having anything made for them. Washing is out of the
question with Esquimaux at most times, but now I was not allowed to
perform the necessary ablutions of their hands and faces, however
greasy or dirty they might be made by their food; the girl's hair
was not to be put into pig-tails, and everything was neglected;
Takkeelikkeeta was not to go sealing until the summer. With the
exception of an occasional sigh from the man, there were no more
signs of grief; our mourners ate, drank, and were merry, and no one
would have supposed they ever had wife, mother, or sister. When the
three days (and it is singular that such should be the time) were
expired, the man was to visit the grave; and, having talked with
his wife, all duties were to be considered as over. The 28th was
our third day, but a heavy northerly gale and thick drift prevented
our visiting the grave. The 29th, although not fine, was more
moderate, and I accompanied him at an early hour. Arriving at the
grave, he anxiously walked up to it and carefully sought for
foot-tracks on the snow; but, finding none, repeated to himself,
'No wolves, no dogs, no foxes; thank ye, thank ye.' He now began a
conversation, which he directed entirely to his wife. He called her
twice by name, and twice told her how the wind was blowing, looking
at the same time in the direction from whence the drift was coming.
He next broke forth into a low monotonous chant, and, keeping his
eyes fixed upon the grave, walked slowly round it in the direction
of the sun four or five times, and at each circuit he stopped a few
moments at the head. His song was, however, uninterrupted. At the
expiration of about eight minutes he stopped, and, suddenly
turning round to me, exclaimed, '_Tugw~a_' (that's enough), and
began walking back to the ship. In the song he chanted I could
frequently distinguish the word _Koyenna_ (thank you), and it was
occasionally coupled with the Kabloonas. Two other expressions,
both the names of the spirits or familiars of the Annatko,
Toolemak, were used a few times; but the whole of the other words
were perfectly unintelligible to me.
"I now sent Shega and her father home, well clothed and in good
case. The week they had passed on board was sufficient time to gain
them the esteem of every one, for they were the most quiet,
inoffensive beings I ever met with; and, to their great credit,
they never once begged. The man was remarkable for his
extraordinary fondness for treacle, sugar, salt, acids, and
spruce-beer, which the others of the tribe could not even smell
without disgust; and he walked about to the different messes in
hopes of being treated with these delicacies. Shega was a timid,
well-behaved girl, and generally remained eating in my cabin, for I
am confident of speaking far within bounds when I say she got
through eight pounds of solids per diem. As far as gratitude could
be shown by Esquimaux, which is saying 'koyenna' on receiving a
present, my friends were sensible of the attentions I had shown
them."
_March_ 5th.--The Esquimaux were about this time rather badly off for
food, in consequence of the winds having of late been unfavourable for
their fishery; but this had only occurred two or three times in the
course of the winter, and never so much as to occasion any great
distress. It is certain, indeed, that the quantity of meat which they
procured between the 1st of October and the 1st of April was sufficient
to furnish about double the population of working people who were
moderate eaters, and had any idea of providing for a future day; but to
individuals who can demolish four or five pounds at a sitting, and at
least ten in the course of a day,[003] and who never bestow a thought on
to-morrow, at least with a view to provide for it by economy, there is
scarcely any supply which could secure them from occasional scarcity. It
is highly probable that the alternate feasting and fasting to which the
gluttony and improvidence of these people so constantly subject them,
may have occasioned many of the complaints that proved fatal during the
winter; and on this account we hardly knew whether to rejoice or not at
the general success of their fishery. Certain it is, that on a
particular occasion of great plenty, one or two individuals were seen
lying in the huts, so distended by the quantity of meat they had eaten
that they were unable to move, and were suffering considerable pain,
arising solely from this cause. Indeed, it is difficult to assign any
other probable reason for the lamentable proportion of deaths that took
place during our stay at Igloolik, while, during a season of nearly
equal severity, and of much greater privation as to food, at Winter
Island, not a single death occurred. Notwithstanding their general
plenty, there were times in the course of this winter, as well as the
last, when our bread-dust was of real service to them, and they were
always particularly desirous of obtaining it for their younger children.
They distinguished this kind of food by the name of _k=an~ibr~o~ot_,
and biscuit or soft bread by that of _sh=eg~al~ak_, the literal meaning
of which terms we never could discover, but supposed them to have some
reference to their respective qualities.
Our lengthened acquaintance with the Esquimaux and their language, which
a second winter passed among them afforded, gave us an opportunity of
occasionally explaining to them in some measure in what direction our
country lay, and of giving them some idea of its distance, climate,
population, and productions. It was with extreme difficulty that these
people had imbibed any correct idea of the superiority of rank possessed
by some individuals among us; and when at length they came into this
idea, they naturally measured our respective importance by the riches
they supposed each to possess. The ships they considered, as a matter
of course, to belong to Captain Lyon and myself, and on this account
distinguished them by the names of _Lyon-oomiak_ and _Paree-oomiak_; but
they believed that the boats and other parts of the furniture were the
property of various other individuals among us. They were, therefore,
not a little surprised to be seriously assured that neither the one nor
the other belonged to any of us, but to a much richer and more powerful
person, to whom we all paid respect and obedience, and at whose command
we had come to visit and enrich the _Innuees_. Ewerat, on account of his
steadiness and intelligence, as well as the interest with which he
listened to anything relating to _Kabloonas_, was particularly fit to
receive information of this nature; and a general chart of the Atlantic
Ocean, and of the lands on each side, immediately conveyed to his mind
an idea of the distance we had come, and the direction in which our home
lay. This and similar information was received by Ewerat and his wife
with the most eager astonishment and interest, not merely displayed in
the "hei-ya!" which constitutes the usual extent of Esquimaux
admiration, but evidently enlarging their notion respecting the other
parts of the world, and creating in them ideas which could never before
have entered their minds. By way of trying their inclinations, I asked
them if they would consent to leave their own country, and, taking with
them their children, go to live in ours, where they would see no more
_Innuees_, and never eat any more seal or walrus. To all this they
willingly agreed, and with an earnestness that left no doubt of their
sincerity; Togolat adding, in an emphatic manner, "_Shagloo ooagoot
nao_" (we do not tell a falsehood), an expression of peculiar force
among them. The eagerness with which they assented to this proposal made
me almost repent my curiosity, and I was glad to get out of the scrape
by saying, that the great personage of whom I had spoken would not be
pleased at my taking them home without having first obtained his
permission. Information of the kind alluded to was subsequently given to
many of the other Esquimaux, some of whom could at length pronounce the
name of "King George" so as to be tolerably intelligible.
The weather was now so pleasant, and the temperature in the sun so
comfortable to the feelings when a shelter could be found from the wind,
that we set up various games for the people, such as cricket, football,
and quoits, which some of them played for many hours during the day.
At the close of the month of March, we were glad to find that its mean
temperature, being -19.75°, when taken in conjunction with those of
January and February, appeared to constitute a mild winter for this
latitude. There were, besides, some other circumstances, which served to
distinguish this winter from any preceding one we had passed in the ice.
One of the most remarkable of these was the frequent occurrence of hard,
well-defined clouds, a feature we had hitherto considered as almost
unknown in the winter sky of the Polar Regions. It is not improbable
that these may have, in part, owed their origin to a large extent of sea
keeping open to the southeastward throughout the winter, though they not
only occurred with the wind from that quarter, but also with the colder
weather, usually accompanying northwesterly breezes. About the time of
the sun's reappearance, and for a week or two after it, these clouds
were not more a subject of admiration to us on account of their novelty,
than from the glowing richness of the tints with which they were
adorned. It is, indeed, scarcely possible for nature, in any climate, to
produce a sky exhibiting greater splendour and richness of colouring
than we at times experienced in the course of this spring. The edges of
the clouds near the sun often presented a fiery or burning appearance,
while the opposite side of the heavens was distinguished by a deep
purple about the horizon, gradually softening upward into a warm yet
delicate rose-colour of inconceivable beauty. These phenomena have
always impressed us the most forcibly about the time of the sun's
permanent setting and that of his reappearance, especially the latter,
and have invariably furnished a particular subject of conversation to us
at those periods; but I do not know whether this is to be attributed so
much to the colouring of the sky exactly at the times alluded to, as to
our habit of setting on every enjoyment a value proportioned to its
scarceness and novelty.
Another peculiarity observed in this winter was the rare occurrence of
the Aurora Borealis, and the extraordinary poorness of its display
whenever it did make its appearance. It was almost invariably seen to
the southward, between an E.S.E. and a W.S.W. bearing, generally low,
the stationary patches of it having a tendency to form an irregular
arch, and not unfrequently with coruscations shooting towards the
zenith. When more diffused it still kept, in general, on the southern
side of the zenith; but never exhibited any of those rapid and
complicated movements observed in the course of the preceding winter,
nor, indeed, any feature that renders it necessary to attempt a
particular description. The electrometer was frequently tried, by Mr.
Fisher, at times when the state of the atmosphere appeared the most
favourable, but always without any sensible effect being produced on the
gold leaf.
The difference in the temperature of the day and night began to be
sensible as early as the first week in March, and the daily range of the
thermometer increased considerably from that time. The increase in the
average temperature of the atmosphere, however, is extremely slow in
these regions, long after the sun has attained a considerable meridian
altitude; but this is in some degree compensated by the inconceivable
rapidity with which the days seem to lengthen when once the sun has
reappeared. There is, indeed, no change which continues to excite so
much surprise as that from almost constant darkness to constant day; and
this is, of course, the more sudden and striking, in proportion to the
height of the latitude. Even in this comparatively low parallel, the
change seemed sufficiently remarkable; for, soon after the middle of
March, only ten weeks after the sun's reappearance above the horizon, a
bright twilight appeared at midnight in the northern heavens.