104 NEW LAND. 



' Kolotengva was a blithe and merry soul, who soon felt 

 himself at home on board. In the evening he gave us a grand 

 performance in the fore-cabin. He pounded away with much 

 strength and skill on a little drum sent to Bay as a toy and- 

 Christmas present, singing the while a monotonous tune, ac- 

 companied by extraordinary twistings of the body and head. At 

 first the performance was only " Lieder ohne Worte ; " but as he 

 became more excited and fired by the melody and its accompani- 

 ment, a whole flood of extraordinary words streamed forth from his 

 broad lips, always in exact time with the singing. Possibly it was 

 an old and well-known song, or who knows ? the gifted Eskimo 

 may have been a bard among his own people, and on the spur of 

 the moment have sung about his journey hither ; about " umiarsua 

 Pram " and " Nalagak Smerdrup " and his hospitable reception 

 amongst us. The song, which began piano, became by degrees 

 wilder and wilder, more and more fm*tissimo, the melody, with 

 the writhing and jerking of the body, quicker and quicker, until 

 finally he raised himself half up in a sort of ecstasy, tossing his 

 black hair backwards and forwards till it completely hid his 

 face. The whole thing made an uncanny and sombre impression, 

 and whereas at first we had laughed at his curious gestures and 

 singing, we were at last made absolutely uncomfortable by the 

 innuit's wild music. 



' When the representation was at an end, there came a sudden 

 change in Kolotengva's appearance. The almost demoniac look 

 went over to his old good-natured expression, with the broad smile 

 on his lips and the merry twinkle in his eye. He was soon the 

 favourite of everybody, and we had a very lively and cheerful 

 evening in consequence. Our Eskimo friend was quite to the fore 

 where practical joking was concerned. When on one occasion he 

 was offered a dram from a child's " take-in " glass, and, in spite of all 

 his efforts, could not get a drop out of it, he saw through the joke 

 very quickly. He put down the glass, and with a roar of laughter 

 gave the cupbearer a sound spanking. 



' The food on board did not agree with him a fact which he 

 tried to explain to us in an extremely graphic manner and so he 

 returned to his usual mode of living, with meat for breakfast, 



