Viewing page 171 of 239
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[boxed date]] 1862 May 4 + [[/boxed date]] he must submit to their customs - must be one of them in & out. When a white man for 1st time entering one of their Tupiks or Igloo he is [[nausteated]] with everything he sees & smells - even disgusted with the looks of the innocent natives who would extend to him the best of the hospitality their means afford. Take as an instance on example the Igloo in which I had an exceelent dinner to-day; Any friend of mine in the States on entering Kookin's Igloo would see a Comany [[?]] of what he would at once call a dirty, lousy set of human beings mixed up among ^[[masses of]] nasty, putrid, ineatable [[strikethrough]]prov[[/strikethrough]] flesh ^[[skins blood]] & bones scattered all about the Igloo. He would see hanging over a long low flame the Koo-sin, black with soot & oil of great age & filled to its utmost capacity with black meat swimming in a thick ^[[dark smoking]] fluid as if made by boiling down dirt scrapings of a Butchers stall floor. He could see men women & children & myself included engaged in participating in the contents of said Koo-sin (cook pot) & he would be excited to pity that human beings should be ^[[induced]] [[strikethrough]]induced[[/strikethrough]] to such circumstances as to eat such horrid stuff! The dishes out of wh. the soup is [[strikethrough]]sep[[/strikethrough]] s-o--u-p-e-d would "turn his stomach" - especially when he should see dogs wash them out with their long pliant tongues preceding their coming into use. But I cannot prolong particulars -my paper for recording particulars is too limited - The tin dish I saw here that I brought from the States - already passed by [[strikethrough]]?trady[[/strikethrough] trading one Innuit with another a dozen different families - The jack knife here that I once had but give to Ook-goo-al-lo. [[underlined]]the use[[/underlined]] ut wh. aforesaid tin dish (Ionce proposed) ^was put]] after Seal Feast was through! - a chamber vessel for infant of Kun-ni-u - I must confess [[end page]] [[start page]] [[boxed date]] 1862 May 4 + [[for Sunday]] [[/boxed date]] that I ^[[?certanly]] was almost horrified with disgust _____________ "[[underlined]]The smoke is[[/underlined]]" all around by my pipe - the foot ^[[(12 inches)]] of soft bone presented me ^[[by Koo-kin]] for medicinal use. I have recorded the fact that Sharkey saw a rabbit when out on the island after partridges. Had Jennie on any other female singer been with him he would probably have got it. Innuits when they go after these animals usually have a female singer with them - while she sings [[underlined]]charmingly[[/underlined]] the gunner is enabled thus to have fair shots. The rabbit delights in listening to the music of an Innuit voice - will stop - sit up & be shot while under its charms. The open water of Bay of Frobisher been in great commotion all day its thunderings been constant. This Morning I sent Sharkey off with dogs & sledge for the Walrus paunch wh was under the snow by the edge of the floe. On his bringing it in, the snow was opened exposing view a h^[[et]]erogenous mass of Sea products among wh. was near a bushel of clams - some partly digested - others none at all. As Innuits eat clams from the paunch of these creatures of course I was not backward in tasting them. Found them good. - Henry responded to my wish to have a dish of them selected [[strikethrough]]cook[[/strikethrough]] washed & cooked. They made a Capital soup. [[underlined]] Never [[?finished]] a bowl of hot Oysters better.[[/underlined]] Every Walrus caught in this Bay, the paunch filled to it utmost limit of expansion by a large proportion of Clams. What a Bay! Cod-fish too in abundance on Kin-gaite side from Innuits description. [[end page]]
Transcription Notes:
See pp 522-23 in Hall's book. In the book the word is "nauseated."
