Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/188

Rh and then the face I beheld was buried in her hands trembling with excitement. It was, indeed, Tookoolito, overwhelmed with tears on seeing me again. The tears sprang to my eyes also as I saw this evidence of strong attachment. It was some time before the silence of the tupic was broken by voices. She and her husband, in common with all the other Innuits and white men, had never expected to see me again. She had often ascended a hill, near by and overlooking the bay, to search the horizon for my returning boat, but had as often come down disappointed.

In the midst of our talk I was startled by the plaintive cry of an infant, and, turning back a corner of the ample tuktoo furs with which Tookoolito was wrapped, I found a boy only twenty-four days of age, her only child! Tookoolito told me she had been very ill, and had nearly died during her confinement. I was about to leave the tupic, having spent a very pleasant hour with my friend, when she drew toward her a bag, from which she took two pair of nether garments—kod-lings—which she had made for me before her sickness. One pair was made of kus-se-gear (black sealskin and fur), a beautiful mottled material; the other pair was of the common seal, made in the Innuit fashion, the former being made in the style of civilization. She also gave me three specimens of her netting or crochet-work, made especially for me to take home to America. They were table mats, and beautiful specimens of a skilful hand. But I had not yet reached the depths of her generosity; she next presented to me a pair of sealskin socks, and a pair of meituk socks (made of the skins of eider ducks with the feathers on), saying, at the same time, that she had the material at hand, and would soon have ready for me a pair of winter boots—kumings. I told her she was doing too much for me. "Nay, nay," was her response, "I cannot do half so much as I ought for one who has been so kind to us." As I was leaving the tupic she said, "I was so glad when I heard last night that you had got back in safety that I could not sleep; I lay