Having worked himself
into this ridiculous kind of phrensy, which lasted, perhaps, from
twenty to thirty seconds, he suddenly discontinued it, and
suffered his features to relax into their natural form; but the
motion of his head seemed to have so stupified him, as indeed it
well might, that there remained an unusual vacancy and a drowsy
stare upon his countenance for some time afterward. Being pressed
to repeat this piece of buffoonery, he did so two or three times;
and on one occasion Togolat asked him, in a serious tone, some
questions respecting me, which he as seriously answered. In
general, however, the women paid little attention to his grimaces,
and the whole ended with a hearty laugh from all parties.
I had to-day some conversation with a woman named Appokiuk, whom
Iligliuk had mentioned as having seen Kabloona people before us.
This woman was gifted, however, with such a volubility of tongue,
that speaking, as she did, in a language very imperfectly known to
us, she gave no time for questions, and therefore afforded little
information. All we could make out for certain was, that she had,
within a year past, seen two _Kabloona oomiak_ (whether ships or
boats was still doubtful[*]), and that her husband was now far
away.
Pages:
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334