CHAPTER IX. 



ESKIMO PATIENCE. 



TT7HEN we were near King Williams 

 * * Land, I saw an Eskimo working up- 

 on a knife that, as nearly as I could ascer- 

 tain, had engaged a good part of his time 

 some six years preceding that date. He 

 had a flat piece of iron, which had been 

 taken from the wreck of one of Sir John 

 Franklin's ships, and from this he was 

 endeavoring to make a knife-blade, which, 

 when completed, would be about twelve 

 inches long. In cutting it from this iron 



