[Salutation.]—
We had no opportunity of witnessing any meeting between these people and strange Eskimo, so that it is impossible to tell whether they practice any particular form of salutation on such occasions. We saw nothing of the kind among themselves. White men are saluted with shouts of “Nakurúk!” (good), and some Eskimo have learned to shake hands. They no longer practice the common Eskimo salutation of rubbing noses, but say that they once did. Sergt. Middleton Smith, of our party, informs me that he once saw a couple of natives in Capt. Herendeen’s trading store give an exhibition of the way this salutation was formerly practiced.
This custom was perhaps falling into disuse as early as 1837, since Thomas Simpson,[573] in describing his reception at Point Barrow, says: “We were not, however, either upon this or any other occasion, favored with the kooniks or nose-rubbing salutations that have so annoyed other travelers.” Mr. Elson, however, expressly states that the people, probably Utkiavwĭñmiun, whom he met at Refuge Inlet eleven years before, rubbed noses and cheeks with him[574] and Maguire[575] narrates how the head of the party of visitors from Point Hope saluted him. He says: “He fixed his forehead against mine and used it as a fulcrum to rub noses several times.”
[Healing.]—
As is the case with Eskimo generally, these people rely for curing disease chiefly upon the efforts of certain persons who have the power of exorcising the supernatural beings by whom the disease is caused. A large number of men and, I believe, some women were supposed to have this power and exercise it in cases of sickness, in some instances, at least, upon the payment of a fee. These people correspond closely to the angekut of the Greenlanders and Eastern Eskimo, and the so-called “shamans” of southern Alaska, but, as far as we could see, do not possess the power and influence usually elsewhere ascribed to this class.
It was exceedingly difficult to obtain any definite information concerning these people, and we only discovered casually that such and such a person was a “doctor” by hearing that he had been employed in a certain case of sickness, or to perform some ceremony of incantation. We did not even succeed in learning the name of this class of people, who, in talking with us, would call themselves “tûktĕ,” as they did our surgeon. On one occasion some of the party happened to visit the house of a sick man where one of these “doctors” was at work. He sat facing the entrance of the house, beating his drum at intervals, and making a babbling noise with his lips, followed by long speeches addressed to something down the trapdoor, bidding it “go!” We were given to understand that these speeches were addressed to a tuɐña or supernatural being.[576] Their only idea of direct treatment of disease is apparently to apply a counterirritant by scarification of the surface of the part affected.
We know of one case where a sufferer from some liver complaint had inflicted on himself, or had had inflicted upon him, quite a considerable cut on the right side with a view of relieving the pain. We also know of several cases where the patients had themselves cut on the scalp or back to relieve headache or rheumatism, and one case where the latter disorder, I believe, had been treated by a severe cut on the side of the knee. A similar practice has been observed at Plover Bay, Siberia, by Hooper,[577] who also mentions the use of a kind of seton for the relief of headache.
They also practice a sort of rough-and-ready surgery, as in the case of the man already mentioned, whose feet had both been amputated. One of the men who lost the tip of his forefinger by the explosion of a cartridge was left with a stump of bone protruding at the end of the finger. Our surgeon attempted to treat this, but after two unsuccessful trials to etherize the patient he was obliged to give it up. When, however, the young man’s father-in-law, who was a noted “doctor,” came home he said at once that the stump must come off, and the patient had to submit to the operation without ether. The “doctor” tried to borrow Dr. Oldmixon’s bone forceps, and when these were refused him cut the bone off, I believe, with a chisel. They appear to have no cure for blindness. We heard nothing of the curious process of “couching” described by Egede in Greenland, p. 121. We had no opportunity of observing their methods of treating wounds or other external injuries. Sufferers were very glad to be treated by our surgeon, and eagerly accepted his medicines, though he had considerable difficulty in making them obey his directions about taking care of themselves.
After they had been in the habit of receiving the surgeon’s medicine for some time, one of the Utkiavwĭñ natives gave Capt. Herendeen what he said was their own medicine. It is a tiny bit of turf which they called nuna kĭñmölq, and which, therefore, probably came from the highland of the upper Meade River, which region bears the name of Kĭñmölq. We were able to get very little information about this substance, but my impression is that it was said to be administered internally, and I believe was specially recommended for bleeding at the lungs. Possibly this is the same as “the black moss that grows on the mountain,” which, according to Crantz[578] was eaten by the Greenlanders to stop blood-spitting.