350 THE BOUNDARY LINK. 



position to please our friends ; tliey drew another 

 nearer, to which they then advanced, but not a foot 

 passed beyond it, and all united in a song, one of 

 them leading, beating time with his knife and spoon 

 in place of a drum, and moving his feet also to the 

 measure. I now for the first time heard words in the 

 song, and these were apparently not improvised, as 

 the whole party took up the same word at every 

 pause, but the refrain was the old original, Hi Yangah, 

 yah, rah. 



By the time that we had concluded our meal and 

 embarked, the oomiaks had rejoined us, now bearing 

 tents and all possessions, for it does not take an 

 Esquimaux family long to remove their summer 

 mansion and change their residence. We encamped 

 in the evening upon the larger of the Baillie Islands, 

 and were very sorry to find heavy ice crowding its 

 shores, and, by the reports of the Esquimaux, of 

 whom about ten men remained with us, it would 

 entirely impede our passage to the eastward. During 

 this day we saw two black whales, the first seen on 

 the trip. 



These Esquimaux were very intelligent : vivacious 

 curiosity replaced the apathetic air which T had 

 generally noticed in others of the tribe ; each and every 

 of our proceedings was investigated with a view to its 



