IN THE CASE OF SUCCESS. 277 



seal-skin dresses, which, prepared in the Uskee manner, 

 are indispensable to the sailors frequenting Davis's Strait. 

 The Uskee Jackets (called watry pook, probably an imita- 

 tion of the word water proof) are impermeable to water ; 

 so also are the trowsers, gloves, and boots, which are all 

 made of the skins of seals deprived of the hair. The form 

 in which the Jackets are cut is very neat, and the whole 

 dress looks well when decorated with seals' teeth, which 

 is usually done in a very tasteful manner. When the sailor 

 apprehends wet or severe weather he is generally dressed 

 in the Uskee fashion, and is then regardless of the storm, 

 having all his under dress dry and comfortable. There 

 are numerous other advantages accruing to the native 

 Greenlanders from such a change ; but to those it may be 

 considered superfluous to draw the reader's attention. 



To the design of taking possession of Disko, it may be 

 obiected that the distance at which it lies from any British 

 port, and its being for so many months locked up by ice, 

 would render the expense of retaining a barren spot like 

 it unprofitable. To this a satisfactory reply is ready. The 

 animals which abound in the seas all around Disko, will, 

 by their capture, repay much more than the expense even 

 of establishing a colony there, were no ulterior object in 

 view ; and a little labour will be sufficient to make it, as 

 a military post, impregnable. As to the objection about 

 its being so long locked up by ice, the same might also be 



