﻿238 INTERVIEW WITH ESKIMOS. August, 



nations as an acknowledgment of inferiority, and 

 it is better to exact something in exchange for any 

 article that you may wish to bestow. The men 

 were very persevering in their attempts to hold on 

 by the boats, and we were obliged to strike them 

 severely on the hands to make them desist. Pre- 

 vious experience had taught me the absolute ne- 

 cessity of firmness in repressing this practice, and 

 I was pleased as well as surprised to see the patience 

 with which they generally endured this treatment, 

 — a few only of the bolder spirits showing a mo- 

 mentary anger, but all acquiescing at length in 

 the rule we had laid down. The freshness of the 

 breeze which blew durins; our intercourse rendered 

 it easier to deal with them, as they dropped behind 

 directly they had ceased to ply their paddles ; but 

 they had no difficulty in out- stripping our boats 

 whenever they exerted themselves ; and I have 

 little doubt but that they are able to propel their 

 light kaiyaks at the rate of seven miles an hour. 



While we were thus engaged, we heard the 

 report of two muskets from the third boat, which 

 had dropped two or three hundred yards astern. 

 It appeared that the kaiyaks had not been so 

 rigidly kept off by Clark, but had been allowed to 

 hamper the oars so as to retard the boat's way. 

 Some of the Eskimos, paddling close up to the stern, 

 had tried to drag the cockswain overboard by the 



