September 14, 1908

When he was young some women of his people scraped deerskins the same day an ugrug had been killed and eaten. Later that same summer, some weeks later, an epidemic (“dry throat,” he calls it) came, killed many people, among them some, but not all, of the women who had been concerned in scraping skins. This epidemic came because of the skin scraping; Ilavinirk still believes this (Kotzebue Sound). Has known many similar cases, among them the deaths at Nîakônak this summer.