Ahlangyah pointed out the eastern coast of Washington Bay as the spot
where she, in company with her husband, and two other men with their
wives, had seen ten white men dragging a sledge with a boat on it many
years ago. There was another Inuit with them who did not go near the
white men. The sledge was on the ice, and a wide crack separated them
from the white men at the interview. The women went on shore, and the
men awaited the white people at the crack on the ice. Five of the white
men put up a tent on the shore, and five remained with the boat on the
ice. The Inuits put up a tent not far from the white men, and they
stayed together here five days. During this time the Inuits killed a
number of seals on the ice and gave them to the white men. They gave
her husband a chopping-knife. He was the one who had the most
intercourse with the white crew. The knife is now lost, or broken and
worn out. She has not seen it for a long time. At the end of five days
they all started for Adelaide Peninsula, fearing that the ice, which
was very rotten, might not let them across. They started at night,
because then, the sun being low, the ice would be a little frozen. The
white men followed, dragging their heavy sledge and boat, and could not
cross the rotten ice as fast as the Inuits, who halted and waited for
them at Gladman's Point. The Inuits could not cross to the mainland,
the ice was too rotten, and they remained in King William Land all
summer. They never saw the white men again, though they waited at
Gladman's Point fishing in the neighboring lakes, going back and forth
between the shore and lakes nearly all summer, and then went to the
eastern shore near Matty Island.
Some of the white men were very thin, and their mouths were dry and
hard and black. They had no fur clothing on. When asked if she
remembered by what names the white men were called, she said one of
them was called "Agloocar," and another "Toolooah." The latter seemed
to be the chief, and it was he who gave the chopping-knife to her
husband. (Agloocar and Toolooah are both common Esquimau names, and it
is probable the names she heard the white men call resembled these in
sound, and thus impressed themselves upon her mind.) Another one was
called "Dok-took" (Doctor). "Toolooah" was a little older than the
others, and had a large black beard, mixed with gray. He was bigger
than any of the others--"a big, broad man." "Agloocar" was smaller, and
had a brown beard about four or five inches below his chin (motioning
with her hand). "Dok-took" was a short man, with a big stomach and red
beard, about the same length as "Agloocar's." All three wore
spectacles, not snow goggles, but, as the interpreters said, all the
same seko (ice).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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