Chap. VII. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 229 



the latter with their spear-heads, arrows, and even knives of 

 chipped flint, without canoes, wood, or iron, and with their 

 tents and clothes full of holes, yet of mild manners, quiet 

 in speech, and as grateful for kindness as they were anxious 

 to return it ; while those now alongside had, perhaps, 

 scarcely a virtue left, owing to the roguery they had learnt 

 from their annual visits to the Hudson's Bay ships. An air 

 of saucy independence, a most clamorous demand for pre- 

 sents, and several attempts at theft, some of which were 

 successful, were their leading characteristics. Yet I saw 

 not why I should constitute myself the censor of these poor 

 savages ; and our barter was accordingly conducted in such 

 a manner as to enrich them very considerably." — pp. 128, 

 129. 



Notwithstanding the indifferent character here 

 given to this tribe, Captain Lyon allows them credit 

 for considerable ingenuity. " Nothing new," he says, 

 " was seen at this visit, if I except a most ingenious 

 piece of carving, from the grinder of a walrus : this 

 was a very spirited little figure of a dog lying down 

 and gnawing a bone ; and although not much above 

 an inch in length, the animal's general expression 

 was admirable."* He adds that they procured a 

 few little ivory bears well executed. 



* The spirited original of this little figure was presented by 

 Captain Lyon to the writer of this narrative, and is truly an 

 ingenious piece of carving, though the wood engraving is far 

 from doing it justice. 



