274 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
to him the necessity of maintaining a steady pos- 
ture ; and in doing so, he used to imitate, with an 
air of the most complete buffoonery and good 
humour, the attitude of the person who was show- 
ing him the position in which it was wished he 
should keep himself. 
This man appeared to be between fifty-five and 
sixty years of age, for his hair and beard were quite 
grey. His visage differed materially from that of 
any of the rest, particularly in being much narrower. 
He was also considerably shorter than any of them, 
for he measured only four feet eleven inches and a 
half, and the shortest of the others was five feet 
four inches and a half; the remaining two were 
nearly of the same height, one measured five feet 
five inches and a half, and the other five feet six 
inches. The two last appeared to be also nearly 
about the same age, that is, between five-and- 
twenty and thirty ; the young man did not look 
to be above one or two and twenty. The Esqui- 
maux countenance has been so often, and so accu- 
rately described, that it would be quite unnecessary 
to enter into a minute detail respecting the fea- 
tures of these people, as it could differ in no respect 
from the numerous accounts already given ; viz. a 
broad and flat countenance, high-cheek bones, 
small and deep-sunk eyes, short pug nose, large 
mouth, thick lips, coarse black and straight hair, 
and a thin black beard, both on the chin and upper 
lip, and the colour of the skin somewhat of a light 
tawny-brown, and greasy. With regard to their 
clothes, they differed but little also from what are 
worn by the Esquimaux of Greenland. The jackets, 
