﻿1848. INTERVIEW WITH ESKIMOS. 237 



sitter requires to steady it before he can use his 

 bow or throw his spear with advantage, unless 

 when three lie alongside each other, and lay their 

 paddles across, by which the central man is left at 

 liberty to use both hands. By taking the pre- 

 caution, therefore, of not allowing the Eskimos to 

 hamper us, by clinging to the boats, and continuing 

 to make some way through the water with the oars, 

 we were pretty sure that they could not take us 

 altogether by surprise ; and I felt confident that as 

 long as they saw that we were on our guard, and 

 prepared to resist any aggression, none would be 

 attempted. I had, moreover, especially directed 

 Duncan Clark, who was cockswain of the third boat, 

 in which there was no other officer, to keep close 

 to mine, which he could easily do as his was the 

 swifter of the two ; but the novelty of the scene 

 caused him to neglect this command, fortunately 

 with no serious bad consequence, though a con- 

 flict might have been the result of his inattention 

 to orders. 



Mr. Rae and I carried on a barter with the men 

 in the kaiyaks, paying them very liberally for any- 

 thing they had to oiFer in exchange, such as arrows, 

 bows, knives of copper or of bone, &c., and thereby 

 furnishing them with much iron-work, in the shape 

 of knives, files, hatchets, awls, needles, &c. The 

 articles we received were of no value to us ; but 

 a gift is generally considered by the American 



