. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ly engaged in dressing sealskins for jackets,and milling old native boots—that is, making the soles soft andpliant by cheiuing them. During the day I heard some extraordinary noises, like therumblings of an earthquake. I had noticed the same on our wayfrom Cape Cracroft, but now the sound was so loud that I couldnot help asking Suzhi if she knew what it was. She replied thatit came from the Kingaite side of the waters; and, from what Iafterward learned, it must have been caused by large masses ofice—icebergs—from Grinnell Glacier falling into
. Arctic researches, and life among the Esquimaux;. ly engaged in dressing sealskins for jackets,and milling old native boots—that is, making the soles soft andpliant by cheiuing them. During the day I heard some extraordinary noises, like therumblings of an earthquake. I had noticed the same on our wayfrom Cape Cracroft, but now the sound was so loud that I couldnot help asking Suzhi if she knew what it was. She replied thatit came from the Kingaite side of the waters; and, from what Iafterward learned, it must have been caused by large masses ofice—icebergs—from Grinnell Glacier falling into the sea. Thedistance traversed by the thundering sound thus occasioned wasabout forty miles. At other times, while in this bay, I have feltthe earth tremble from the same cause. In the evening Suzhi and I took a walk round to the northside of the island. We had not gone far when she asked me, inher native tongue, Do you see walrus? pointing to a long whiteline running up the mountains side. I looked, and at first sup- A SINGULAR CUSTOM. sua. ? SUZins BOOT MILLING. posed it to be a vein of quartz running up among the dark moss-covered rocks; but, on closer inspection, I found it to consist ofover a hundred walrus jawbones, placed in line about two feetapart. Some parts of each were white as the snows of Kingaite,but a considerable portion was covered with thick black this singular arrangement meant I had yet to learn. We next came to a spot situated by the margin of a covered with bleached bones of seals, walrus, whales,and tuktoo. Ask an Innuit to what animal this and that bonebelonged, as you pick them up, and he or she will tell you atonce, the people being in reality good natural anatomists. We passed on half a mile, and reached a pojnt of high land,which looked out toward Niountelik, but could see none of ourparty returning. It was then ten oclock; the night was fine,and a few stars were visible, but it was not yet late enough in these
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjecteskimos, bookyear1865
