The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1865-03-16

snow till at length made my way into the
main igloo. Nukerton was not dead She
breathed, and was much about the same as
| when I last saw her. | determined then to
remain, doing what could for the dying
! The lamp was nearly out, the cold was intense,
the thermometer outside being 81 degrees be-
low the freezing point; and though had on
| the E,Qllimaux dress, it was with difficulty
could keep my blood from congealing. There
I was, lone, silent watcher of a diving Esoui-
maux, eneireled within snow walls that were
soon TO become her tomb. Thank God / was
therei i did my soul good to hold commun-
! ion with high heaven at such a time 1t did
me good to be where angels, just from heaven
| came to greet andbear away q soul precieus to
God. What scene! Indeed, to me it was
one that has become intellectually fixed on
memory's tablet. ,st.l ,H - -. :
About twelve, midnight, heard footsteps
approaching. Soon the sound as if the en-
trance was being closed up again. / thought.
can it be that / am to be imprisoned here.
doomed to have this my living tomb? [ lis
tened a while. found it true that was be-
ing shut up as though dead. At length |
cried out, "Turbar! turbar!, Stopl stop !!
at this all was again silent as the grave for a
moment. then said, "Kiete' come in; aud
IN came the two who were performing the last
sad act of respect to the dead. But what
shall say of their last act to the living? The
two proved to be Koodloo and a woman
called Koo-on-le-arng, or Suzhi, as we named
her. Here they remained hall an hour with
me, and then departed. was again alone
with the dying Esquimaux. Nearer and near
er drew her end. Coldness was creeping over
her. Indeed, found the cold taking hold of
me. The native lamp, which serves for light
and fire, had ceased from want of blubber or
oil. There was only my lantern-lamp to give
light, and the oil of this was kept fluid by the
ealoric oil my encircling hands. m esI ',iss
"'During the day my fur stockings had be-
come damp from perspiration, therefore nv
ieet were nearly frozen. Every few minutes
was necesstated to jump and thrash nv
self-to do anything conld to keep nv limbs
from frostbites. i 49, sts4 -Af'4JI
How intently watched each change in
Nukerton! ROne, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, did slowly count in the intervals of
her breathing, and these increasing to even
double that number. At last could count
nineteen between her inspirations, but her
Inspirations were short and proionged-irreg
ular. at length Nukerton ceased to live. /
exclaimed, shes dead Receive back her
spirit, l pray thee, o God, for she is Thine"
placed the lamp before her face She
breathed not And there sat on the plat
form OF snow by her side, her dishevelled
locks matted and tangled with reindeer hair.
falling in wild disorder over her tattooed
brow. l called to her, "Nukertoni Mixer
ttonF' but no response came back. The ST.
lence OF the dead alone remained. sa
'" now LETT for another part of the island,
to call her cousin Koodoo He was asleep in
an igloo, and, on awaking him he aocompani-
ed me back. But could find no one to lend
a helping hand no one would touch the dead.
Therefore determined to lay the corpse out
myself. Koodloo would do nothing but hold
the lamp, and had to perform the whole.
put her on snow bed, crossed her hands up!
on her breast and closed her lips, and placed
Jumps OF the pure snow of heaven upon her
eYellds, with snow pillow under her head
Inis done, then left for the ship, having first
taken the precaution to seal up the igloo, so
as to prevent the dogs from eating up her re-
IL was three in the morning when Mixer.
ton died, and as / left her so did her BODY
remain, unvisited, uncared for, within that ig-
loo tomby" a 4ils s IS 'asHIlII "a ?
The desertion attempted in the case mar
rated above was completed in other instances.
On one occasion Mr.. Hall heard that a woman
at some distance had been left to die alone,
Without food or fire. He at once obtained all
the help he could, and set out to the place of
her entombment; the intense cold drove them
back nearly frozen, but second attempt was
made-for Mr.. Halls only impulse was to go
on-and was partially SUCCESSFUL sga.9
M