Health of the Natives.--Their Diseases.--Captain N. prescribes
a Remedy.--Their superstitious Notions.--Mr. Osborn
prescribes for the Sick.--A fatal Case.--They surround Mr.
O. with threatening Gestures.--Native Remedy for Nose Bleeding
and Sore Eyes.--Burial Ceremony.--Marriages.--General
Appearance of the Natives.--Their Character.--Their Habits
of Industry.--Property.--Language.--Icebergs.--Their
Formation.--The Distance to which Icebergs float.--Their
Magnitude.--Field Ice.--The sudden Disappearance of Ice.--
How accounted for.--Icy Vapor.--Poisoning.
THE HEALTH OF THE NATIVES.
So far as we could learn, they had the usual share of health with other
communities. A good proportion of them reached an advanced age in life;
and some, we should judge from their appearance, were much older than
the oldest among our own countrymen.
DISEASES.
One of the most common diseases among the natives appeared to be that
of worms--originating, probably, from the character of their diet.
Their medicinal preparations were but few and simple.
Captain Norton had in his possession a package of wormwood, which he
picked up on the shore near the wreck. Though it had been saturated
with salt water, yet, from time to time, he administered a strong drink
of it for the above disease, with complete success. As proof of their
appreciation of his services, they would put a dried crow's head upon
his arm. His success went so far, that he had as many crows' heads as
could be strung from his wrist to his elbow.
Captain Norton, however, was wisely cautious in one respect, and that
was, he would not prescribe in any given case of sickness, unless he
was well convinced there was no immediate danger to the patient, or
that he could afford some temporary relief.
Their superstitious notions were such that, if any prescription should
fail, and the patient should not recover, they would suppose at once
that the proposed remedy was the cause of death. It required great
prudence, therefore, to manage, not only the sick, but also those who
were well.
A case occurred of a very trifling character at first, but finally it
proved fatal. The face of a person, a woman, was somewhat swelled; the
cause of it, so far as we could ascertain, originated in a defective
tooth.
Mr. Osborn acted the part of a physician at this time. He applied a
poultice of sea bread, in order to reduce the inflammation, which he
supposed it would shortly do.
The woman, however, did not get immediately better; and her friends
took the poultice off, and in the place of it they tied a string very
tight round her chin, in order, as they believed, to prevent the
disease or swelling from going downwards. The string rather increased
the inflammation; and then it was taken off, and placed still lower
down, until the swelling had very much increased, and had reached her
breast. The string was now tied tighter than ever, until it became
embedded in the flesh.
Since Mr. Osborn's remedy had failed to benefit her, the natives,
from their appearance and gestures, supposed that the poultice was an
injury, instead of an advantage, to the woman. They therefore gathered
round Mr. Osborn in the most threatening attitude, and he greatly
feared they were about to injure or kill him. At any rate, he learned
one important lesson--to be more cautious, in future, in prescribing
remedies to the sick among the natives. They were superstitious, and
therefore unreasonable.
The natives were subject to nose bleeding; the excessively cold weather
was doubtless the chief cause of it. The remedy which they employed,
and in use among them, was the application of a frosty stone, or piece
of ice to the back of the neck.
Sore eyes were quite prevalent among them, more so in some seasons
of the year than in others. This disease is caused by the reflection
of sunlight upon an almost boundless surface of snow and ice. The
simple remedy, in ordinary cases among them, was in making a slight
incision with a thorn or some sharp instrument in the flesh, directly
between the eyes, so as to draw several drops of blood. The effect of
this treatment was to reduce the inflammation, and thus carry off the
soreness from the eyes.
In some instances, however, the eyes of the natives had wholly run out.
BURIAL CEREMONY.
This, in many respects, was very peculiar, and quite different from the
great majority of semi-barbarous or half-civilized tribes and nations.
When one dies, a wife, for example,--as this instance did occur in one
of the huts,--the following ceremonies were observed to take place:--
Immediately on the death of the person, or just before death took
place, the relatives and friends gathered in the hut, and commenced a
most bitter and vociferous wailing or mourning.
The usual means to expel the disease, whatever it might be, had been
employed in vain. Several skins, stretched over hoops varying in
size, had been broken by furious beating, accompanied with fantastic
gesticulations and almost unearthly sounds, if possible, to cure
the patient. But all to no purpose. They now found that death was
approaching; and since every effort of theirs had not benefited her,
they pronounced her incurable, and proceeded at once to terminate
her existence. She was not permitted to die wholly from the natural
effects of the disease; but a small cord was placed round her neck,
and gradually drawn closer and closer by those who stood on each side
of her, until life became extinct. During the last scene, she gave
various presents to her relatives and friends. She died with singular
indifference, and without a groan.
Whether all the sick, who, they supposed, would not recover, were thus
put to death, as in the foregoing instance, may be a question. Yet, in
so far as could be ascertained from observation and from conversation
with the natives, it is the opinion of those who lived with them for
several months that this was generally the case.
Soon after, all the remaining property which she possessed--her
clothing, needles, combs, beads, &c., besides some tobacco--was sewed
up with her in the dress she usually wore, or in which she died. A
new sled was then made for the deceased, and two of the best dogs in
the family were selected to bear away the corpse. Instead of carrying
the body out of the ordinary doorway, an opening was made through the
side of the hut sufficiently large for the body to pass and those
accompanying it. The relatives and friends followed the remains to
the place of the dead, two or three miles distant, upon some hill
side. There it remained untouched for five days. The face only of the
deceased was exposed. On the return of the family connections to the
hut, one of the dogs was killed. During the five days which intervened,
the husband forsook the hut altogether, and all other huts, and
wandered about from place to place, living in temporary exile from all
connection with his former home, or family and friends. And during this
time, also, food was carried to the dead body, and also placed outside
the hut, on the supposition that she would need it.
On the sixth day, the deceased was visited again by the relatives for
the purpose of disposing of what was left of her remains. The crows
and beasts of prey had nearly or quite completed the work of destroying
every vestige of the body. Thus, in a very short time, nothing remained
but here and there a bone mingled indiscriminately with others in the
place of the dead.
The company then returned to the hut, and another scene of wailing
and mourning ensued. During this last act, the hut was surrounded by
the relatives of the deceased; and all at once, at a given signal,
the whole company rose up, and pulled the hut down, and removed it to
another place. Before it was erected again, however, the second dog was
killed, and its blood sprinkled over the newly-selected spot.
With the change in the locality of the hut a new order of things took
place. The husband assumed his former relations to the family, and
ceremonies were at an end respecting the deceased.
From what could be learned from the natives, they supposed that, in
leaving the face of the deceased uncovered, the crows would pick out
her eyes, and then she would be unable to find her way back to the
hut. The opening made in the side of the hut, through which to carry
the corpse, was another superstitious idea. They believed she would
not enter the hut again, if she was not carried out by the door. The
removal of the hut to a new place was in accordance with their notions
that she would be unable to find it again.
They have a general belief of an existence after death; yet so crude,
ill-defined, and dark was this belief, that it stands allied with the
grossest forms of paganism and idolatry. The glorious gospel of Christ,
"which brings life and immortality to light," finds no place in their
hopes for the future, nor does it afford any consolation to them on
their pilgrimage to the tomb. They are living, as the apostle said the
heathen did in his day, "having no hope, and without God in the world."
MARRIAGES.
They are polygamists. They have as many wives as they see fit to take,
or as they can support. They have a custom among them of temporarily
exchanging their wives with each other. The evils of polygamy were
obvious among the natives, in the jealousy, contention, wrath, and
fighting observable between the different wives.
GENERAL APPEARANCE.
From their appearance, we should judge they belonged to the race of
Esquimaux. In stature, they are rather below medium height, thick
set, strongly built, muscles fully developed, and capable of great
endurance; and in complexion, copper color. Their countenances are
far from being prepossessing; high cheek bones, flat noses, and large
mouths.
A stranger, upon first sight, would be led to infer from their general
appearance that they were fierce, cruel, and prepared for any act of
barbarity. What they would become, if injured or abused, we had no
opportunity of knowing. Nor did we discover in them any unfriendly
feelings towards other settlements or tribes, whether near or more
remote, or that of late years there had been any contention, or
fighting, or war between the different tribes in that region. They
had instruments of war, such as bows and arrows, lances, clubs, &c.;
but they probably needed them in destroying the savage beasts, and
especially bears, that infest the country.
We found them kind and hospitable to us, or otherwise we all must have
perished. They treated us, we believe, according to their knowledge and
circumstances, with more than ordinary attention.
They exhibited love and sympathy towards the members of their
respective families, and were particularly affectionate to their
children.
As to their moral character, we could not discover that they had any
idea of the one God, the Maker and Upholder of all things and beings,
nor of Providence, nor of accountability, nor of moral right and moral
wrong.
They believed, however, as all heathen idolaters and pagans do, that
there were superior divinities. They seemed to fear evil spirits, if
they had no reverence for good ones. They had an idea that somewhere,
in some remote mountain in the interior, their god lived, and that the
dead would in some way or other go thither; though they never gave
us their views particularly upon this subject. They had no idols nor
household gods. They paid profound homage to the crow, and regarded it
in some sort as sacred. They wore crows' heads as amulets upon their
persons. With the exception of the kindness they manifested towards us,
and natural affection towards their children and to one another, in
their social habits, intellectual ignorance, and moral darkness, they
must be classed among the most degraded of the human race.
Their habits of industry correspond with the general features of
their character. Thus fishing, hunting, making sleds, training dogs
in their teams, running races, occasional traffic with tribes in the
interior, &c., constitute the principal routine of their employments
and amusements. Their manner of life presented no inducement for them
to labor beyond their present necessities. By the way, the females had
a large part of the necessary work to perform.
PROPERTY.
Their property consisted chiefly in dogs and huts. He who owned
the best dog teams, and had possession in huts, was considered the
most wealthy man. The head man of the settlement was supposed not
only to possess the greatest amount of property, but he excelled
in bodily strength. With these qualifications, he commanded the
greatest influence, and was acknowledged as the head and leader of the
settlement.
We found some among the natives who were considered rich,--rich in dogs
and dog teams, &c.,--and others that were poor.
LANGUAGE.
It is quite probable that all, or nearly all, the tribes or settlements
on the shores of the Arctic, both on the Asiatic and American sides,
have a common language, though differing, as we found, in some words,
and also in pronunciation. The language is that of the Esquimaux race.
Those with whom we lived, and other settlements or tribes on the
Asiatic coast with whom we have had any acquaintance, from East
Cape to the north as far as our wreck, have no written language. We
could not learn from them that any one had ever attempted to instruct
them, or reduce their language to some system, or that any teacher in
religion had ever visited them. Without a written language, or books,
or teachers, or oral instruction in some form, the certain results
must invariably be, that from age to age, they will continue in the
same condition of mental ignorance, moral blindness, and physical
degradation.
It was the opinion of Mr. Abram Osborn, Jr., who became a proficient in
the language of the natives, and could converse with them with ease and
fluency, that it was simple, and he believed could be readily reduced
to some systematic form. The method he resorted to, in order to acquire
the language, was simply this: when he heard a native word, he would
write it, according to its sound, upon a piece of copper, and place
opposite to it its English definition. He made inquiries of the natives
as to the meaning of their words, and what they called certain things.
In this manner he became very familiar with all the terms and phrases
which they used.
The following are a few specimens of native language. English words are
placed in the first column, and the Esquimaux in the second.
ENGLISH. ESQUIMAUX.
Dog, Attat.
Sled, Woncoose.
Deer, Korong.
Fox, Tricokadlekin.
Legs, Mingara.
Feet, Partakou.
Fingers, Riddlegus.
Arms, Mingukou.
Hands, Mungit.
Head, Eloout.
Hair, Kidweed.
Nose, Yacka.
Sick, Atke.
Death, Youedlin.
Striking, to kill, Kittegerayouedlin.
Wrestling, Mupperrudle.
Dancing and frolicking, Katepangarrakim.
Soup, Opanga.
Hat, Yarang.
Spear, Poegan.
Arrow, Kekimbo.
Whale, Draow.
Boat, Atuat.
Ship, Laloutoutline.
Snow, Addledadle.
Ice, Retinute.
Water, Memut.
Skin, Naglegin.
Walrus, Redica.
Woman, Youan.
Seal, Mamut.
Hill, Youket.
Mountain, Nutamut.
Seamen, Raumkidlins.
Father, Etletuen.
Mother, Etlita.
Son, Youakek.
Ocean, Numaumkimmemut.
Land, Nuteskin.
Sea shore, beach, Nutanute.
Jacket, Eran.
Cap, Kile.
Shoes, Pomeat.
"O dear me," Hokeenonkanum.
Mad, Anguenipo.
Trousers, Konitre.
NUMBERS.
One, Ennan.
Two, Gera.
Three, Giro.
Four, Gerack.
Five, Miltingum.
Six, Ennan Miltingum.
Seven, Gera Miltingum.
Eight, Amgrokim.
Nine, Conizinkin.
Ten, Mingitkim.
Twelve, Mingitkim Gera Parole.
Thirteen, Mingitkim Giro Parole.
Fourteen, Mingitkim Gerack Parole.
Fifteen, Kiddegitten.
Sixteen, Kiddegitten Ennan Parole.
Seventeen, Kiddegitten Gera Parole.
Eighteen, Kiddegitten Giro Parole.
Nineteen, Kiddegitten Gerack Parole.
Twenty, Kalekin.
Thirty, Kalekin Mingitkim Parole.
Forty, Gerack Kalekim.
Fifty, Miltingum Mingitkim Parole.
Sixty, Gera Kalekim Mingitkim Parole.
Seventy, Giro Kalekim Mingitkim Parole.
Eighty, Gerack Kalekim.
Ninety, Gerack Kalekim Mingitkim Parole.
One Hundred, Miltingum Kalekin,
ICEBERGS.
Some of the most remarkable phenomena seen in the Northern Ocean, and
the manner of their formation, are icebergs. They are greatly feared
by seamen, and a contact with them would be equivalent to striking a
rock. They are formed far up in the polar region during the intense
and protracted cold of winter; and in the change of the season in
summer, though ice is always accumulating in high latitudes, they drift
with the currents into lower latitudes, where they melt, and finally
disappear. They are of varied dimensions, indicating by these facts
somewhat the sources whence they come, and wearing every conceivable
exterior form.
They are formed by the falling of snow over steep and high cliffs on
the borders of the sea; "little by little the incrustations on the
shore and cliffs increase to the size of mountains, and then, being
torn away from their fastenings, either by the winds, or by their
own weight, or by the action of the sea beating against their bases
or undermining them, are swept into the ocean, where they continue
to accumulate by the falling of snow and frozen water, and finally
resemble great islands."
Large masses of ice, which take the form of bergs, are formed along the
rocky-bound coast of the Arctic.
On the fall of the tide, after the ocean has been frozen over, the
localities of the rocks and ledges are clearly observable. When the
tide rises, the superincumbent mass is lifted up, and a new layer is
formed underneath. This process goes on with the rise and fall of
the tides and the accumulation of ice, until vast ridges, broken and
dislocated, assuming every variety of appearance, are thus pressed up
to a great height.
We observed the gradual rise of one of these immense piles of ice not
far from our winter quarters. It appeared to be more than twenty-five
feet above the ordinary ice around it.
The cliffs upon whose sides we have seen icebergs form rise to the
enormous height of two to four hundred feet. And the shore was so bold,
and the depth of water so great at their bases, that a ship would
probably strike her yards against their precipitous sides before
she would ground. A vessel, therefore, being dashed against those
adamantine walls in a gale of wind, would instantly fly to pieces, and
not a seaman would be saved.
"The distance to which icebergs float from the polar regions on the
opposite sides of the line is, as may be supposed, very different.
Their extreme limit in the northern hemisphere is judged to be about
lat. 40 deg., though they are occasionally seen in lat. 42 deg. N., near the
termination of the great bank of Newfoundland, and at the Azores, lat.
42 deg. N., to which they have sometimes drifted from Baffin's Bay.
"But in the other hemisphere, they have been seen, within the last few
years, at different points off the Cape of Good Hope, between lat. 36 deg.
and 39 deg.. One of these was two miles in circumference and one hundred
and fifty feet high, appearing like chalk when the sun was obscured,
and having the lustre of refined sugar when the sun was shining upon
it. Others rose from two hundred and fifty to three hundred feet above
the level of the water, and were therefore of great volume below; since
it is ascertained by experiments on the buoyancy of ice floating in sea
water, that for every cubic foot seen above, there must at least be
eight cubic feet below water."
Captain Sir John Ross saw several icebergs in Baffin's Bay aground in
water fifteen hundred feet deep! Many of them are driven down into
Hudson's Bay, and, accumulating there, diffuse excessive cold over
the entire continent; so that Captain Franklin reports that, at the
mouth of Haye's River, which lies in the same latitude as the north of
Prussia or the south of Scotland, ice is found every where, in digging
wells, in summer, at the depth of four feet. "It is a well-known fact
that, every four or five years, a large number of icebergs floating
from Greenland double Cape Langaness, and are stranded on the west
coast of Iceland. The inhabitants are then aware that their crops
of hay will fail in consequence of fogs, which are generated almost
incessantly; and the dearth of food is not confined to the land, for
the temperature of the water is so changed that the fish entirely
desert the coast."
As to the relative thickness of common field ice where it remained
unbroken through the winter, we found it varied from ten to twenty-five
feet in thickness. We had an opportunity of judging, from the fact that
we examined several openings which the natives had made in the ice off
East Cape for the purpose of taking seal.
The sudden disappearance of large and extended tracts of ice in the
northern seas, in addition to its being carried away by the force of
currents towards the south, is attributed by many to its sinking. How
ice should sink, when its specific gravity is lighter than water, is a
question for the speculative to discuss--unless there be some other
preponderating element mingled with it, such as fragments of rock,
sand, or gravel.
Whalemen have frequently affirmed that they have not only been
surrounded by fields or large tracts of ice at night, but in the
morning it had wholly disappeared from the surface of the water.
Therefore many have arrived at the conclusion, that in certain states
of the ice, in the process of breaking up and thawing, it actually
sinks below the surface of the water, if not to the bottom.
There was another phenomenon which we observed. During the coldest
season of the year, and in certain states of the atmosphere, the air
deposits its moisture in the form of frozen fog. It has the appearance
of a fine gossamer netting or icicles, and these are dispersed through
the atmosphere, and so extremely minute that they seem to pierce
and excoriate the skin; and, especially when the wind blew, it was
impossible to face this storm of icy vapor. We have seen a deposition
of this frost from four to six inches during the space of twelve hours.
A CASE OF POISONING.
We observed that the natives ate all parts of the bear except the
liver. Experience had probably taught them that it was not proper to
eat, or, it may be, they had seen the fatal effects of eating it among
themselves.
A bear, during the early part of winter, was brought into the
settlement, which the natives had killed. Some of our company concluded
to make a mess out of the liver, and invite others to partake of the
dainty. It was eaten, and the consequences were nearly fatal to all
of us who partook of it. It produced distress in our stomachs and
diarrhoea.
We find the following in Dr. Kane's "Arctic Explorations:" "When I was
out in the Advance, with Captain De Haven, I satisfied myself that it
was a vulgar prejudice to regard the liver of the bear as poisonous.
I ate of it freely myself, and succeeded in making it a favorite dish
with the mess. But I find to my cost that it may be more savory than
safe. The cub's liver was my supper last night; and to-day I have the
symptoms of poison in full measure--vertigo, diarrhoea, and their
concomitants."
[Illustration: A SHIP AFTER A GALE.]