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Gilder, William H. (William Henry), 1838-1900

"Schwatka's Search"

A "small island" is Kigyuektower, and "long island"
Kigyuektukjuar.
The land on the north and east of North Bay is called Queennah, which
means "all right," and was given to it in view of the fact that in
winter it is filled with reindeer, who can go no farther south in their
migration, and spend the winter on the Meta Incognita of Queen
Elizabeth, or the Queennah of the Esquimaux. Akkolear means a narrow
passage or channel, where the land is visible on both sides as you pass
through. The natives we met here are more cleanly in their persons and
dress than any others we saw on the Arctic, but there their superiority
ends. They are most persistent beggars, and indeed require watching, or
they will sometimes steal, a vice to which the Esquimaux as a nation
are little given. I saw two of their women, while sitting in our
cabin, comb their hair without discovering a single specimen of the
genus pediculosum; while, should any one of the other tribes we met
have done the same thing, the result would have been most
overwhelmingly satisfactory. But though they are dirty they will
neither lie nor steal, except in rare instances. The natives of the
north shore of Hudson's Strait were spoken of by the early explorers of
the present century--Parry, Back, and Lyon--as rude, dirty, and
unreliable, and they have not improved much since that day, except in
regard to dirt.


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