It was amusing to see Okotook take a
dose of physic for the first time in his life to-day. He knew its
taste was not pleasant, but this was certainly not all that he
dreaded; for, before he put the cup to his lips with one hand, he
held on by his wife with the other, and she by him with both hers,
as though they expected an explosion, or some such catastrophe, as
the immediate effect of the potion; nor did he venture to relinquish
his hold till the taste began to leave his mouth. The quantity of
water which he drank in the course of the four-and-twenty hours
is beyond conception; and the cabin fire could scarcely, by the
melting of snow, furnish enough for their consumption. These people
are extremely particular as to the purity of the water they drink.
Some that had been melted in our steamer, and which I thought very
good, neither of them would touch, or, at least, always spat out
again. If the water was much above the temperature of 32 deg., they
also disliked it, and immediately put snow into it to cool it
down. Iligliuk, who came on board with one side of her hair loose,
loosened the other also to-day, in consequence of her fancying
Okotook worse, though it was only the annoyance of the blister that
made him uneasy; for even in this sequestered corner of the globe
dishevelled locks bespeak mourning.
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