Supposing this was all according to rule, I left them to
repose in peace, and resigned myself to sleep.
"On rising, Dunn and I washed with soap in a pond, which caused
great speculations among the by-standers, on some of whom we
afterward performed miracles in the cleansing way. A large
assemblage being collected to hear me talk of Ney-uning-Eitua, or
Winter Island, and to see us eat, the women volunteered to cook for
us; and, as we preferred a fire in the open air to their lamps, the
good-natured creatures sat an hour in the rain to stew some venison
which we had saved from our shares of the deer. The fires in summer,
when in the open air, are generally made of bones previously well
rubbed with blubber, and the female who attends the cooking chews a
large piece, from which, as she extracts the oil, she spirts it on
the flame.
"After noon, as I lay half asleep, a man came, and, taking me by the
hand, desired Dunn to follow. He led to a tent, which, from the
stillness within, I conjectured was untenanted. Several men stood
near the door, and, on entering, I found eighteen women assembled
and seated in regular order, with the seniors in front.
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