2 SKETCH OF THE BOOTHIANS. 



and pliysiognomy, their dresses, it so accurately resembles that 

 of the other tribes of Esquimaux so often described, that I n)ay 

 almost pass it over, while referring to the ditFerent plates in this 

 volume, and their accompanying explanations. 



I had abundant reason, in the first place, to believe that the 

 natives of this spot, uniting with these a few with whom we had 

 but a temporary and slender communication, were entirely unac- 

 quainted with Europeans : while the nearest approach to any 

 knowledge of them was, to have conversed with some one who had 

 conversed with a third person who had seen them at Igloolik, and, 

 possibly, elsewhere. Nor was this contradicted by their possession 

 of a few European knives. Of these, they had indeed but three ; 

 nor did those on which the maker's mark could be traced, permit 

 our believing that they had been obtained from Sir Edward Parry. 

 In reality, they admitted themselves to have possessed those for 

 a " very long time," while unable to explain whence they had 

 been obtained ; so that no conclusions of any kind could be drawn 

 from this circumstance. 



Thns ignorant of civilized society, they were equally unac- 

 quainted with the warlike tribes of America ; whether those of 

 their own race, or the races which are included under the general 

 term Indians. The peculiar insulation of the tract to which they 

 confine themselves, is not only the cause of this, but is likely to 

 operate henceforward, without interruption. While that tract is 

 sufficient to give room for their summer and winter migrations, 

 it supplies all their wants, and therefore leaves them no tempta- 

 tion to wander eastward, where they might possibly hereafter 



