NINE MONTHS IN THE ARCTIC. 201 



About this time there were five ships at or 

 near Indian Point, working their way towards 

 the north through the floating ice. The news 

 of the shipwreck was brought to these ships by 

 the natives, bearing in their hands tracts and 

 pieces of copper, written upon by the captain 

 and his officers, stating the wreck, where the 

 company could be found, and their earnest de- 

 sire to be taken off. The natives approached 

 the ships, lying off a short distance from the 

 shore, holding up in their hands those mysterious 

 parchments, in order to attract the attention of 

 those on board. The story was soon told. The 

 tracts and pieces of copper at once removed all 

 uncertainty which had for months surrounded 

 the fate of the Citizen and the condition of her 

 officers and crew. 



The announcement that so many fellow-sea- 

 men were still in the land of the living; that 

 they had survived the rigors of an arctic win- 

 ter ; that they were not far up the coast, — less 

 than a day's sail, — and that they were anx- 

 iously and hourly looking and waiting for ap- 

 proaching ships, was enough to stir the deepest 

 sympathies of every mariner's heart. 



With the least possible delay, being impelled 

 not only by a sense of duty, but actuated by the 

 most generous and philanthropic sentiments and 



