The largest part of an Inuit's food is, however, eaten raw. These
o-yooks are merely festal occasions, though they occur several times a
day, and may happen at any hour of the day or night when the natives
are assembled in villages and have plenty of food on hand. It is then
that they recompense themselves for starvings in the past or in
prospect.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RETURN.
We reached our permanent camp on our return from King William Land on
September 19th. It was about six miles south-east of Gladman Point, and
at the foot of a high hill, which Toolooah remarked would make a good
look-out tower for deer-hunting. All along this part of the coast,
where Simpson Strait is narrowest, would soon swarm with reindeer
waiting for the salt water to freeze, so they could continue their
navigation southward. It is for this reason that we selected it as our
permanent camp while we also awaited the freezing of the strait, so
that we could cross with our heavy sleds. When Henry and Frank went
down the coast they found reindeer everywhere else but at Gladman Point
and that neighborhood, and were there for three days without food. In
the meantime Toolooah crossed the strait in a kyack and found the
natives. On his return he killed a reindeer on the main-land and
relieved their distress. Long before we reached the spot the meadows
and ponds were frozen, so that we could cross them with perfect
impunity.
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