On the Rocks of Resolution. 175 



At Stuparfc's, as also at Ashe's, on the north shore, the rocks 

 were well covered with newly fallen snow, and the general appear- 

 ance of the country was wintry enough. As at Ashe's, the ice had 

 departed from Stupart's, and the water was wholly unobstructed. 



The Eskimo population encamped near the station was still there, 

 and had been considerably augmented. I visited one village the day 

 we arrived, consisting of seven camps and over sixty inhabitants. A 

 little way beyond there were still others. A number of these people 

 are in the habit of visiting the station buildings daily. They are 

 peaceful and quiet, but quite persistent beggars. They are not 

 allowed to enter the house where the men reside, but they crowd 

 round the door and avail themselves of every opportunity to request 

 " tobbacimick," or other, to them, necessaries of life. Often, while 

 the station-men are eating their meals, ten or fifteen of these curious 

 visitors well nigh darken the windows, watching them. Every 

 movement of the white man is the cause of wonder and amazement 

 to them. 



As soon as the Neptune's whistle rent the morning air all the 

 Eskimos for miles round rushed to the shore, nearly a dozen paddling 

 rapidly out over the surging waters toward the ship. A 

 number of us went on shore and began to traffic with them, giving 

 tobacco, powder, shot, and gun-caps in exchange for deer and seal 

 skins, bows and arrows, model kayaks, and other curiosities of 

 Eskimo life. 



We were entertained at Stupart's by a curious freak of an 

 Eskimo boy named Podolik, who, with a piece of lead pencil which 

 he had obtained at Ungava many months before, and a bit of brown 

 paper which he had picked up near the station, had made a neat 

 outline map of the whole coast of Prince of Wales Sound. Upon 

 examining him through our interpreter, we found that his effort 

 was based upon a good knowledge of the shores in that vicinity. 

 He told us where trout could be had in large quantities, pointed out 

 the best sealing grounds, and described the coast for nearly a hundred 

 miles to the eastward. He was a bright boy about fourteen years 

 of age. 



A number of us dined at Stupart's, finding their cook well up 



