Bushnan presently afterward found, to inquire into the
efficacy and propriety of the sick man's removal. Presently he
began to utter a variety of confused and inarticulate sounds; and
it being at length understood that a favourable answer had been
given, Okotook was carried out and placed on the sledge, Ewerat
still mumbling his thumbs and muttering his incantations as
before. When the party took their leave, there were a great many
doleful faces among those that remained behind; and Mr. Bushnan
said that the whole scene more resembled the preparations for a
funeral than the mere removal of a sick man. When the sledge moved
on, Ewerat was the only one who had not a "Good-by!" ready, he
being as seriously engaged as at first, and continuing so as long
as our people could observe him.
[Footnote: Familiar spirit.]
Okotook was extremely ill on his arrival, having been three hours
on the sledge, and Iligliuk, who, as Mr. Bushnan told me, had
scarcely taken her eyes off her husband's face the whole time,
seemed almost worn out with fatigue and anxiety. A bed of wolf
skins being prepared for him, Okotook was soon placed upon it, and
such remedies applied as Mr. Edwards judged necessary for his
complaint, which was inflammation of the lungs to a degree that,
if left to itself, or even to Ewerat, would soon have proved
fatal, or, at best, have terminated in consumption.
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