464 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chap. XII. 



worthy of all exertion, in which I thought myself at length 

 free to indulge, raised my spirits to more than an ordinary 

 pitch of excitement."- — pp. 57, 58. 



The only disappointment he felt, but at the 

 same time one that amused him, was the loss of two 

 Canadians, former acquaintances, who presented 

 themselves almost breathless with haste, as candi- 

 dates for the service, were accepted, and their agree- 

 ments directed to be made out. Their wives, how- 

 ever, took different but equally effectual methods 

 to prevent their completion, and to keep their hus- 

 bands at home : — 



" The one, a good strapping dame, cuffed her husband's 

 ears with such dexterity and good will, that he was fain to 

 cry peccam, and seek shelter in a friendly tent ; the other, 

 an interesting girl of seventeen, burst into tears, and with 

 piteous sobs clung to the husband of her love, as if she 

 would hold him prisoner in her arms. I had, therefore, to 

 look elsewhere." — p. 55. 



He describes the odd assemblage of articles that 

 were huddled together in his tent ; " nor was my 

 crew," he says, " less motley than the furniture. 

 It consisted of an Englishman, a man from Storno- 

 way, two Canadians, two metifs, and three Iroquois 

 Indians. Babel itself could not have produced a 

 worse confusion of unharmonious sounds than was 

 the conversation they kept up." 



A whole fleet of Indian canoes was met with, 

 whose chief, an intelligent-looking old man, named 

 by the traders " Le Camarade de Mandeville," 



