26 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. II. 



western shore of Greenland, passing a number of 

 whale ships busily employed ; and on the 17th of 

 June got into Waygat Strait, in which were forty- 

 five whalers detained by the ice. This strait is 

 formed between the shore of Greenland and the 

 island of Disco, on which is a Danish settlement. 

 In this neighbourhood, among the points of land, 

 the shoals, and islands that abound, the ships were 

 so hampered with ice, that it was not until the 3rd 

 of July they reached the Women's Islands. 



Their detention, however, did not lack amuse- 

 ment. The half-caste sons and daughters of Danes 

 and Esquimaux danced Scotch reels on the deck of 

 the Isabella with the sailors ; and Ross savs, — 



" Sackhouse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds, and 

 with good-humoured officiousness he performed the office of 

 master of the ceremonies. An Esquimaux master of 

 the ceremonies to a ball on the deck of his Majesty's 

 ships in the icy seas of Greenland, was an office somewhat 

 new, but Nash himself could not have performed his func- 

 tions in a manner more appropriate. It did not belong even 

 to Nash himself to combine in his own person, like Jack, 

 the discordant qualifications of seaman, interpreter, draughts- 

 man, and master of ceremonies to a ball, with those of an 

 active fisher of seals, and a hunter of white bears." — pp. 

 55-6. 



This intelligent and amiable Esquimaux, Jack 

 Saccheous (or Sackhouse), affords a strong example 

 of what a little kindness and attention will effect on 

 human beings, even in the lowest scale of existence. 



