180 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. VI. 



that continent, which Captain Parry is told, in his 

 instructions, to be the object next to the finding a 

 passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is true 

 that he might, in his progress along the coast on 

 which he was about to proceed, have made the dis- 

 covery, but the confidence he placed in the indica- 

 tion he had acquired from the Esquimaux lady was 

 sufficient to induce a more than common attention 

 to the spot where it received full confirmation. 



Nor were the powers of mind in this superior 

 woman confined to the love of music, or drawing, 

 or needlework ; every thing she observed the people 

 of the ships to be employed upon caught her atten- 

 tion. One day, accompanied by her husband and 

 son, they paid a visit to the ships, and the season 

 for departure approaching, being desirous, says 

 Parry, of entertaining them well, after providing 

 abundance to eat, we showed them everything about 

 the ship that we thought likely to amuse them : — 



" Of all the wonders they had ever witnessed on board, 

 there was nothing that seemed to impress them so strongly 

 with a sense of our superiority as the forge, and the work 

 which the armourer performed with it. The welding of 

 two pieces of iron especially excited their admiration, and I 

 never saw Iligliuk express so much astonishment at any 

 thing before. Even in this her superior good sense was 

 observable, for it was evident that the utility of what she 

 saw going on, was what forced itself upon her mind ; and 

 she watched every stroke of the hammer, and each blast of 

 the bellows, with extreme eagerness, while numbers of other 

 Esquimaux looked stupidly on, without expressing the 



