Hall questions Eveeshuk about cannibalism (1869)
Friday: May 14: 1869
Thick fog this morning Wind SE the weather warm.
Now noon & the wife of Tǔk-pee-too present in our Ig-loo at my request having understood that she has seen some of the skeleton bones of the 5 men who died on this island Kee-u-na (Todd's Isle).
Her name E-vee-shǔk.
I now with Inuk's aid as Interpreter ask her some questions: --
Did you see anything of the men who died on this island? Ans. She has seen 5 skulls of the White Men who died a long time ago here.
Did you see Too-loo-ark? Ans. Saw the bodies of the White Men in one place on the island & Too-loo-ark a little way from the 4. When she 1st saw them flesh & clothing all on the bones, the bodies entire & after making tupik near the dogs discovered much of the flesh of the Kob-lū-nas (Whites). It was some time after this that she saw the skulls she has spoke of as having seen.
She saw these bodies entire one winter after Poo-yet-a found them. - The clothes these men had on were black.
What makes you Ev-ee-shuk think one of these 5 men was Too-loo-ark? Had heard [from] her father all about Too-loo-ark, how he looked when at Eat-er-water-wig
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Can bones – skeleton bones – be seen there now when snow & ice are gone. Ans. She thinks not for it is so muddy there & the mud soft that they have all sunk down into it — she continues one man's body when found by the Innuits flesh all on & not mutilated except the hands sawed off at the wrists – the rest a great many had their flesh cut off as if some one or others had cut it off to eat
