ioo OLD WHALING DAYS. 



I kept the ammunition, and tried to persuade them to 

 fire their guns at a mark, but they said the deer would be 

 alarmed, and would not come near us, which was quite 

 correct. I did not feel safe in their company so far from 

 the ship. At last I promised if they would return at once I 

 would give them a knife. They readily accepted the offer, 

 and I was glad to be able to come to such terms with them. 

 We returned to the ship by a route which only took us two 

 and a half hours. It was dark when we came to the beach. 

 When I got on board I gave them the knives I promised, 

 hoping never to be accompanied again on the land by them. 

 As we did not see any whales in this place we got under 

 weigh with a nice breeze, and before dark anchored in 

 another harbour about ten miles away. In these waters it 

 is impossible for a ship to keep under way during the night. 

 The rocks are so numerous, and the rise and fall of the tide 

 so great, we must decide beforehand where the next harbour 

 is situated. We possessed a rough chart, sketched by a 

 native woman, which is in my possession at the present 

 time, with a few improvements I have made. We also took 

 two or three natives with us as guides. This place had been 

 a favourite resort for them at some remote period, judging 

 from the remains of numerous summer and winter huts, 

 also a large quantity of walrus bones and skulls lying about, 

 from which the tusks had been extracted. I have often 

 wondered from where the natives in this neighbourhood 

 obtained their iron. Most of it appeared to have been iron 

 hooping converted into lance heads and harpoon points, but 

 that used for knives was four inches broad. Some of them 

 said it had come a long distance from the south ; others 

 that they found it on the beach, which would probably 

 have been taken from casks or wreckage that had drifted 

 ashore. When a native dies they invariably bury all he 

 possesses with him. I think with such a scarce article as 

 iron this may not be done, but that it is handed down from 



