650 Captain Lyon's Private Journal. 



offeiing tlicir wives in exchange lor a 



kiiile, and llie women as anxiously 

 jiiessinj; the ijar^faiu. 



The exertion of daneing so exhilarated 

 the Eskimaux, that tliey Iiad the ap- 

 pearance of being buisterously drunk, 

 and played many extraordinary pranks. 

 An5onn;st otiiers, it was a favourite joke 

 to run slily heiiind the seamen, and, 

 shouting loudly in one ear, to give them 

 at the same time a very smart slap on 

 Iho other. Wliile looking on, I was 

 sliarply saluted in this manner, and, of 

 course, was quite slartled, to the great 

 amusement ot the by-standcrs. tiie joke 

 consisird in making tlie jierson struek 

 look astonished, wliich, as may be sup- 

 posed, was always the result. 



Our eook, who was a most aetive and 

 unwearied jumper, became so great a 

 favourite, that every one boxed his cars 

 so sounilly, as to oblige the poor man to 

 retire from such boisterous marks o) ap- 

 probation. Amongst other sports, some 

 of tlie Eskimaux rather roughly, but 

 with gicat good humour, challenged our 

 people to wrestle. One man, in parti- 

 cular, who had thrown several of his 

 countrymen, attacked an officer of a 

 very strong make, but the poor savage 

 ^ was instantly thrown, and with no very 

 easy fall; jet, although every one was 

 Jaughing at iiim, he bore it with exem- 

 plary good humour. The same oflieer 

 alTorded us mueh diversion, by teaciiing 

 a large parly of women to bow, curtsy, 

 shake bands, turn their toes out, and 

 prrl'u;ni sundry otiier polite accomplish- 

 ments ; the whole party, master and 

 pupils, preserving the strictest gravity. 



Towards midnight all our men, ex- 

 cept the WaJeh on deck, turned in to 

 their beds, and the fatigued and hungry 

 Eskimaux returned to their boats to 

 take their supper, which consisted of 

 lumps of raw ilesh and blubher of seals, 

 birds, entrails. Sec. licking their fingers 

 with great zest, and with knives or 

 fingers scraping the blood and gr-iase 

 which ran down their chins into their 

 nKjutiis. 



I walked quietly round to look at the 

 dii^Vrenl groujies, and in one of the 

 women's boats 1 observed a young girl, 

 whom we had generally allowed to be 

 the belle of tlie party, busily employed 

 in tearing a slice from the belly of a seal, 

 and biting it into small pieces for dis- 

 tribution to those around her. I also 

 remarked that the two sexes look their 

 meal apart, the men on the ice, the 

 women sitting iu their boats. At mid- 



night they all left us, so exhausted by 

 their day's exertions, that they were 

 quite unable either to scream or laugh. j 

 'rhc men paddled slowly away, and the | 

 women rowed oft' with half their party 

 asleep, A few went oidy to a piece of 

 floating ice astern, where they lay down 

 for the ni^ht, while the others made their 

 way to the shore, which was about 

 eight miles distant. 



On the 25th we were off tlie Upper 

 Savage Island. Parties here landed 

 trorn each ship, and the requisite obser- 

 vations being taken, we all set out on 

 excursions to explore the island. It is 

 high and rocky, principally of a re(hlisli 

 granite, but producing also gneiss and 

 sandstone. Its length is about three 

 miles, its breadth two. Near where we 

 landed were qnanlities of bones, which 

 we conjectured to be those of the wal- 

 rus. Much frozen snow lay in the 

 cleflsof the rocks, whence issued small \ 

 streams of water. On the top of tlio 

 isie were many jiools beautifully trans- • 

 parent, near one of which a grouse 

 (tetrao lagopus), in summer plumage, 

 was killed. In the marshy ground, near 

 the w ater, the vegetation was extremely 

 luxuriant. Amidst the various mosses 

 and grasses, the delicate white llower of J 

 the andromeda, and brilliant yellow 

 jioppy, were eminently conspicuous. Iu 

 drier places, a beautiful species of but- 

 ter-cup was very abundant, as was also 

 the dwarf willow, of which I had heard 

 so ninch, but had never seen before. 

 This arctic tree gmws close to the 

 ground, and spieiids its liUiputian 

 branches over an extent of from one to 

 three feet. Its stalk rarely exceeds 

 three inches in circumference, and all 

 the wood is twisted and deformed. 



Motkitocs were \ery numerous, as 

 were also common ilies. Amongst the 

 lichens, I observed a very diminutive 

 insect resembling a mite in figure, but 

 possessing great activity of motion. It 

 was of the most brilliant scarlet, and 

 tinged the fingers of the same hue when 

 taken between them ; being, on account 

 of its extreme delicacy, instantly 

 crushed. 



GEOLOGICAL GURIOSITV. 



I Iiad lime to stroll to a neighbourins: 

 hill, where I had the satisfaction of 

 finding, with the assistance of one of our 

 men, the crown-bone, and, ultimately, 

 the whole skeleton of a whale. It lay 

 across the upper end of a small green 

 ravine, and was at least 100 feet above 

 the level of the seal With the ej^- 

 ceptiou 



