Chap. VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 171 



the least habitable portions of the globe, amidst 

 eternal ice and snow, possess many valuable and 

 amiable qualities, among some others that are less 

 so, and are common to all savage or uneducated 

 people. Those of the tribe here met with are 

 described in their behaviour as being, in the highest 

 degree, respectful, orderly, and good humoured. 

 They gave the voyagers every reason to believe 

 4;hat they possessed, in no ordinary degree, the 

 quality of honesty — a quality not usually found 

 among an uncivilized people ; " but a quality," 

 Parry observes, " the more desirable to us, as we 

 had on shore, besides the house and observatory, 

 all our boats and other articles, which, had they 

 been disposed to pilfer, it would have required all 

 our vigilance to guard. If we dropped a glove or 

 a handkerchief without knowing it, they would 

 immediately direct our attention to it by pointing ; 

 and if the owner had left the hut before they dis- 

 covered it, they would run out after him to return it. 

 Nay, more ; if anything happened to be left at the 

 huts, they would travel down to the ships to return 

 it to the owner. A pair of their dogs was purchased 

 in the Hecla, which broke loose and disappeared ; 

 but next day two were found chained up on board 

 the Fury, which, on inquiry, proved to be the ani- 

 mals in question, and which had thus been faithfully 

 restored to their rightful owners. Many other in- 

 stances satisfied the voyagers that dishonesty is 

 not a prominent vice among these poor people. 



