228 ARRIVAL OF ESQUIMAUX. 



south until I reached the Esquimaux, for I could no 

 longer afford to delay communication with them. 

 Although the temperature had now fallen to 43° be- 

 low zero, yet the careful preparations which I had 

 made for camping relieved the journey from any risks 

 on that account. The mercury froze for the first time 

 during the winter while Dodge was absent, and I was 

 extravagant enough to mould a bullet of it and send 

 it from my rifle through a thick plank. Dodge, who 

 was one of my most hardy men, returned from his 

 twelve hours' tramp complaining that he had suffered 

 rather from heat than cold, and he declared that, when 

 called upon another time to wade so far through snow- 

 drifts and hummocks, he would not carry so heavy a 

 load of furs. In truth, both he and his two compan- 

 ions came in perspiring freely under their buffalo-skin 

 coats. 



My projected journey was, however, destined not 

 to come off. The sledge was loaded with our light 

 cargo, and we were ready to set out on the morning 

 of the 27th, but a gale sprung up suddenly and de- 

 tained us on board during that and the following day. 

 Early in the morning of the 29th, the wind having 

 fallen to calm, we were preparing to start. The men 

 were putting on their furs, and I was in my cabin 

 giving some last instructions to Mr. McCormick, when 

 Carl, who had the watch on deck, came hastily to my 

 door to report " Two Esquimaux alongside." They 

 had come upon us out of the darkness very suddenly 

 and unobserved. 



Conjecturing that these people would hardly have 

 visited us without having first fallen in with Sonntag 

 and Hans, I at once sent the interpreter to interro- 

 gate them. He came back in a few minutes. I in- 



