380 PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. 



— mooring one of them in Port Foulke, and pushing 

 north with the other, — a practicable scheme of ex- 

 ploration could be inaugurated, and that its success 

 as well as safety would be secured. To this end, I 

 proposed to myself to establish a permanent hunt- 

 ing station or colony at Port Foulke; to collect 

 about that place all of the Esquimaux;^ organize a 

 vigorous hunt ; and make that hunt yield whatever 

 was essential for sustaining indefinitely an extended 

 system of exploration toward the North Pole. In 

 the practicability of establishing such a station, 

 Jensen, whose experience in the Greenland colonies 

 was extensive, fully agreed with me, and he was 

 much delighted with the plan, accepting without 

 hesitation my proposal to make him superintendent 

 of it ; Kalutunah was overjoyed with the prospect of 

 bringing all of his people together ; and, in this as- 

 pect alone, the scheme possessed much that was to 

 me personally gratifjdng. My intercourse with this 

 fast-dwindling race had caused me to feel a deep in- 

 terest in them and to sympathize with their unhappy 

 condition. The hardships of their life were telling 

 upon them sadly, and, if not rescued by the hand of 

 Christian philanthropy and benevolence, in less than 

 half a century these poor wanderers of the icy sea 

 will have all passed away. 



My plans for the future did not, however, assume 

 definite shape at the period of which I write, nor 

 could they until the schooner should be set free. 



1 The Esquimaux may, to a limited extent, be even made available in 

 exploration, as has been shown by the experience of Mr. C. F Hall, who 

 is now, with no other reliance than the natives, energetically pushing his 

 discoveries westward from Repulse Bay. 



