Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/120

Rh At the time of which I write there lived in the neighbourhood of my explorations a very aged and singular woman called Oo-ki-jox-y Ni-noo. This patriarchal dame was born on an island named An-nan-ne-toon, situated on the north side of Hudson's Strait, and when I first saw her I believe she could not have been less than one hundred years old. She was an important personage among her people, and, as the reader will find, proved of much service to me from the knowledge she had of Innuit traditions.

Now this woman had been married to a man called Pier-koo-ne-me-loon, who had also, at the same time, a second wife, Poor-loong-wong, sister of Ookijoxy Ninoo. By the second wife he had three children, with whom we have nothing to do. But by the former he had eight sons and daughters, and at length died in a good old age, leaving his other wife to survive all her own children except the Ugarng already named.

The progeny of this old woman was as follows:

1st. A daughter, that died at its birth, owing to an accidental fall previously received by its mother while playing ball in the spring.

2d. A daughter, Tou-yer-nŭd-loon, who grew up to woman-hood, a large, strong woman. She married a Pim-ma-in, or chief, who was considered a very smart Innuit. After many years she had by him two children, and at the birth of the latter she died. The infant was then allowed to die, because, as was told me, "it was impossible to take care of it;" and two or three days afterward the husband also died. With regard to this woman, it was considered among the Innuits impossible to tell which looked oldest, her mother or herself.

3d. A daughter, called Noo-ker-pier-ung, who was born not far from Newton's Fiord, in Frobisher Bay. She married a man named Oo-yung, and these were the parents of E-bier-bing, a person who will often appear as a very important character in my narrative. The mother died about 1852.

4th. A son, New-wer-kier-ung, who married, first, a cousin of Ebierbing's wife, the intelligent Tookoolito, by which cousin H 2