They carried their bows in their
hands, with arrows fixed to the strings; but when the old woman shouted
back that we were white men, they laid aside their arms and received us
in a friendly manner, striking their breasts and saying, "Many-tu-me,"
though Joe afterward told me that one of the men wanted a fight anyhow.
They have a custom of killing the first stranger who comes among them
after a death in the tribe, and as we filled that requirement, it seems
he wanted to carry out the custom. At Equeesik's suggestion a gun had
been discharged in the air as we approached, and it is probable that
the knowledge that we were better armed than they had some effect in
securing peace. They acted in quite a friendly manner after we came
among them, and Lieutenant Schwatka and I visited all their igloos,
leaving needles, thimbles, spoons, knives, and fish-hooks with them in
exchange for a few unimportant Franklin relics. The next day we
interviewed an old man named Seeuteetuar, who had seen a number of
skeletons near the water line in an inlet about three or four miles
west from the present camp. He had also seen books and papers scattered
around among the rocks along the shore and back from the beach. There
were also knives, forks and spoons, dishes and cans. There was no sled
there, but there was a boat, which was afterward broken up and taken
away by the natives, with which to manufacture wooden implements.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98