1827 



306 VOYAGE TO THE 



CHAP. It was remarked that the inhabitants of Point Bar- 



VII. 



\^^ \^j row had copper kettles, and were in several respects 

 Oct. better supplied with European articles than the people 

 who resided to the southward. Captain Franklin 

 found among the Esquimaux near the Mackenzie se- 

 veral of these kettles, and other manufactures, which 

 were so unlike those supplied by the North west Com- 

 panv, as to leave no doubt of their being obtained from 

 the westward. Connecting these facts with the behavi- 

 our of the natives who visited us off \Vain\f right Inlet, 

 and the information obtained by Augustus, the inter- 

 preter, it is very probable that between the Mackenzie 

 River and Point Barrow there is an agent who receives 

 these articles from the Asiatic coast, and parts with 

 them in exchange for furs. Augustus learned from 

 the Esquimaux that the people from whom these ar- 

 ticles were procured resided up a river to the west- 

 ward of Return Reef. The copper kettles, in all pro- 

 bability, come from the Russians, as the Tschutschi 

 have such an aversion to utensils made of that metal, 

 that they will not even use one when lined with tin.* 

 From the cautious manner in which the whole tribe 

 dispose of their furs, reserving the most valuable for 

 larger prices than we felt inclined to give, and some- 

 times producing only the inferior ones, we were in- 

 duced to suspect that there were several Esquimaux 

 acting as agents upon the coast, properly instructed by 

 their employers in Kamschatka, who, having collected 

 the best furs from the natives, crossed over with them 

 to the Asiatic coast, and returned with the necessary 

 articles for the purchase of others. 



I regret that we never had an opportunity of seeing 



* Captain Cochrane's Journey in Siberia. 



