We were somewhat disappointed in her as a witness, for she
was so old that her memory was at fault, and she would wander about to
different places and relate circumstances without explanation. Her son,
who was present at the interview, was a lad of about twelve years when
he visited the boat place with his parents, and retained a vivid
recollection of the place. His testimony, therefore, proved to be what
we had hoped of his mother's. All the time he was talking the old woman
sat nodding approval as the circumstances he was relating were recalled
to her memory. His name is Ogzeuckjeuwock, and he is an aruketko, or
medicine-man, in his tribe. The recollection of the boat place was
somewhat impressed upon his mind by the explosion of a can of powder
with which he and another lad were playing after the articles were
found there. The effects of the explosion came near proving fatal at
the time, and when I met him during the fall on King William Land, he
told me he had never entirely recovered from the shock.
I give the interview with Tooktoocheer and her son as I recorded it in
my note-book at the time, so that each reader may draw his own
conclusions. Some of the statements will undoubtedly appear strange,
but in the main they are perfectly intelligible and exceedingly
interesting. Tooktoocheer said she was from Okbillegeok (Pelly Bay
of the charts), a portion of the Netchillik country.
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