﻿1848. RUSSELL INLET. 261 



At eight in the morning of the 8th of August 

 we landed on one of a cluster of clayey and sandy 

 islands, near Cape Brown ; and while we were pre- 

 paring breakfast were visited by four Eskimos, 

 who told us that they had just killed several rein- 

 deer on a neighbouring island. On desiring to 

 have some of the venison in exchange for a knife 

 they went away in their kaiyaks, and, before we 

 had finished breakfast, returned again, bringing 

 with them only the toughest and most inferior 

 parts of the animals. I paid them what was pro- 

 mised, and made them some presents besides, but 

 reprimanded them for their want of hospitality, 

 and told them that I meant to have given them 

 an axe had they been more liberal. These people, 

 like the other parties we had previously communi- 

 cated with, declared that no large ships nor boats 

 had been seen on their coasts, and that we were 

 the first white men they had ever beheld. I could 

 not discover that any remembrance of my visit to 

 their shores, twenty-three years previously, existed 

 among any of the parties I saw on the present 

 voyage, though I never failed to question them 

 closely on the subject. 



After breakfast we crossed Russell Inlet, and as 

 we passed Cape Brown several Eskimos put off 

 from the shore, and three of them overtook us 

 though we were going with a stiff breeze at the 



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