Mar. 1859. ESQUIMAUX WOMEN. 207 



specimens of the fair sex. They had fine eyes and teeth, as 

 well as very small hands, and the young girls had a fresh rosy 

 hue not often seen in combination with olive complexions. 



Esquimaux mothers carry their infants on their backs 

 within their large fur dresses, and where the babes can only 

 be got at by pulling them out over the shoulder. Whilst 

 intent upon my bargaining for silver spoons and forks 

 belonging to Franklin's expedition, at the rate of a few 

 needles or a knife for each relic, one pertinacious old dame 

 after having obtained all she was likely to get from me for 

 herself, pulled out her infant by the arm from its snug retreat 

 in her fur robe, and quietly held the poor little creature, 

 perfectly naked, before me in the breeze, the temperature at 

 the time being 6o° below freezing point ! Petersen informed 

 me that she was begging for a needle for her child. I need 

 not say I gave her one as expeditiously as possible ; yet before 

 the infant was again put out of sight sufficient time elapsed 

 to alarm me considerably for its safety in such a tempera- 

 ture. The natives, however, seemed to think nothing of 

 what looked to me like cruel exposure of a naked baby. 



We now returned to the ship with all the speed we were 

 capable of; but stormy weather occasioned two days' delay, 

 so that we did not arrive on board until the 14th March. 

 Though considerably reduced in flesh, I and my companions 

 were in excellent health, and blessed with insatiable ap- 

 petites. On washing our faces, which had become perfectly 

 black from the soot of our blubber lamp, sundry scars, relics of 

 frost-bites, appeared; and the tips of our fingers, from constant 

 frost-bites, had become as callous as if seared with hot iron. 

 In this journey of twenty-five days we travelled 360 

 geographical miles (420 English), and completed the dis- 

 covery of the coast-line of continental America, thereby 

 adding about 120 miles to our charts. The mean tempera- 

 ture throughout the journey was 30 below zero of Fahren- 

 heit, or 62 below the freezing point of water. 



