Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/261

240 followed?" The general reply was, "Not one in a thousand will believe it." "In fact," added the captain, "I can hardly believe it even now, though it was so." And thus may many others say; yet the facts are precisely as I have related them, and they are evidence of the keen sagacity and almost human intelligence, allied to great bravery, of my faithful Greenland dog Barbekark. On the 5th of March Sharkey returned from Cornelius Grinnell Bay. He was accompanied by one of the angeko's wives, and brought us information of all my Innuit friends, and also of Nikujar's death, which occurred about two or three days after I had left. I have before mentioned that this woman, Nikujar, was the family wife No. 1 of Ugarng, and had formerly been the wife of Blind George. Indeed, until he became blind, she was to him a happy and loving partner, giving him the one child, Kookooyer, he now so much doted upon; but when the curtains of an endless night were drawn over him, he lost her. She consented to become the wife of Ugarng, leaving the noble-hearted but now blind "eagle" to be alone. By Ugarng, Nikujar had another child, Me-noun, but she was always wishing to have her first one, Kookooyer, with her. Thus it was that I so often saw the girl in Ugarng's home, instead of with her own father. Nikujar, however, did not get on quite so well as she had expected. Ugarng's second wife, Kunniu, seemed to be his favourite, probably on account of her being so serviceable to him in hunting and sealing; and Nikujar had frequently to remain by herself, or with wife No. 3, to take care of their home. Disease also laid hold of her. She was sick when I first saw her, and consumption had sown the seeds of death in her frame. Gradually she wasted away, and during my sojourn at the igloo village it was evident to me she could not long survive. It was therefore no surprise when I heard of her decease. To Blind George, however, who was on board when the news arrived, the intelligence was a heavy blow. Notwithstanding her faithlessness, he had always retained his original love for the mother of their dear child;