OLD WHALING DAYS. 89 



Traveller and ours were friendly, but each kept his own 

 counsel. It was most singular, whenever we found a new 

 harbour they were sure to come directly after. We were in 

 twelve different harbours where no ship had ever been before. 

 The land extending from Cumberland Gulf to Frobisher 

 Straits had not been then explored, but was called Meta 

 Incognita. At the N.W. part of the Gulf lies a large lake 

 called Lake Kennedy, but by the natives Nitiling. I never 

 heard of any civilised person being there. The natives gave 

 me a sketch of it, and said there were three large waterfalls 

 which emptied themselves into the Gulf. It is marked down 

 on our charts, but, no doubt, they have been furnished by 

 the Esquimaux, as the one I have from them corresponds 

 with the others, excepting the waterfalls. We gave names to 

 many islands, capes, and bays, and then came to a place 

 called Nugumut, where the natives are taller and more wild 

 than those at Kemisuack. Some of the latter told me that 

 formerly the Nugumut natives made raids upon them, 

 killing the men and taking the women away. I cannot 

 vouch for the truth of this statement, yet I noticed they were 

 very distant with each other when they met. If both tribes 

 happened to encamp for a short time in the same place, they 

 always left a large space between their huts. 



We were now always among natives j some had never 

 seen a white man or a ship before, although they had heard 

 of them from those who had been to Hudson's Bay. Many 

 of the men had a moustache, and their hair knotted or tied 

 on the fore part of the head. Their kamicks, or boots, were 

 also different about the ankle, and the women were more 

 tattooed. The Nugumut (innuit), or natives, are great 

 thieves, but the poor things are much to be pitied. Their 

 constant cry was " peletay," which means give something. 

 Although they would not eat our food, they would beg it 

 and leave it behind a spar, or elsewhere. Their canoes 

 were larger than those belonging to the natives further 



