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Lice collect numerously upon their persons. These
are looked upon as destroyers of comfort, not
as conveying associations of the unclean. They
wage war against them as we do against mosquitoes,
but after killing them they eat them.

I need go no further, the words [ebesk?]
which is the only approach in their language to
"dirt or filth", applies merely to mechanical
obstructions as [?], the dirt crust
on their face is [Ebesk?] "dirt", but the spit or
urine which washed it off is not dirt. The
evacuations of the child [under?] so copious as to
interfere with the action of the hands are not
"Ebesk", the secretions of the nose and the
parasitical growths of the body are food
for the palate and in no respect [?] as
[?] unclean.

Spent some time at Etah in examining glacier and
sketching household utensals. [Miss S cannot
comment on [these?].] among other old friends I
saw [Auhahtok?] now recovering from the
severe [post?] bite which with a similar misfortune
befel [?] in their fearful adventure
among the drifting ice. I gave [?]
(Bladder float) a piece of red flannel
and pow wowed him. He resides with
[Utuneat?] in the second hut which is much
smaller than Mitek's, his wife is a sister
of [Kalutenak?], and quite pretty. I could
hardly believe that this [young?] couple
would have killed their first born child
and pretending ignorance of the matter. I
[?] after its health. They turned their
hands downward, as much as to say "its
gone" but showed no sign of confusion. They
did not even pay its memory the cheap
compliment of tears, which among thes e
people are always at hand.

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19

There is a singular custom [among them] which I have [?] here and which
[?] to the [?], and has its analogues
in more cultivated [centres?]. I allude to regulated formalities of mourning
the dead with spells of copious
weeping. In this all present are expected to
join and [?] requires you to wipe
the eyes of the Cheif mourner. Often they
assemble by concert for this purpose, but very
generally one will break out into [?]
and the others [?] follow without
at first, knowing for what particular bereavement
they are weeping.

Any calamity may be thus mourned, the
failure of a hunt, the fracture of a walrus
line the death of a dog or a grand mother.
Mrs. Eider duck né Small belly ([Egurk?]) once looked
up from her [kolupdiet?] and burst into a
gentle gush of woe; with remarkable presence
of mind I took out my handkerchief
made of [marten?] out of my [long] an unused [white] [?]
and after wiping her eyes, politely wept a
few tears myself. This little passage of woe
was soon over Eider Duck returned to her [Kolupdiet?]
and Naligak to his note book.

The six storm arrested strangers were
off early in the morning on their hunt. I
sent by them messages of compliment to
[Kalutak?] a [kalutaket?] and [?] to advance
my negociation for dogs. In the afternoon I
started on a walrus hunt [myself]. [?]
& myself being sledgemen. We had but Mitek's
four dogs.

Walrus form the staple food of
the Rensselaer Bay Esquimaux throughout
the greater part of the year. To [?] S.
about [?[ Channel the seal &
[?] & white whale [?] at
[?] appropriate seafood, but in