PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 139 



have acquired a very extensive knowledge of the seas 

 and coasts of this part of America. One female, in par- 

 ticular, named Iligliuk, who bore even among her coun- 

 trymen the character of " a wise woman/' was, after 

 a little instruction, enabled to convey to the strangers 

 the outlines of her geographical knowledge in the form 

 of a rude map. A pencil being put into her hand, she 

 traced the shore from Repulse Bay with such a degree 

 of accuracy as inspired great confidence in what she 

 might further delineate. She then began to exhibit a 

 coast reaching far to the north, being, in fact, the east- 

 ern limits of Melville Peninsula. Next her pencil took 

 a western direction, when her further progress was 

 watched with the deepest interest ; in the course of 

 which she represented a strait between two opposite 

 lands, that extended westward till it opened on each 

 side, and spread into an ocean apparently unbounded. 

 This sketch, which promised to fulfil theic most sanguine 

 hopes, gratified the officers beyond measure, and they 

 loaded Iligliuk with attentions. 



Parry gives an interesting account of the sudden 

 appearance of an Esquimaux snow village near the 

 ships. "If the first view," he says, "of the exterior 

 of this little village was such as to create astonishment, 

 that feeling was in no small degree heightened on 

 accepting the invitation soon given us to enter these 

 extraordinary houses, in the construction of fldiich we 

 observed that not a single material was used but snow 

 and ice. After creeping through two low passages, 

 having each its arched doorway, we came to a small 

 circular apartment, of which the roof was a perfect 

 arched dome. From this three doorways, also arched, 

 and of larger dimensions than the outer ones, led into 

 as many inhabited apartments, one on each side, and the 

 other facing us as we entered. The interior of these 



