march, 1865.J Starvation Driven Off'. 149 



was what they most needed, not ordy for their fire-lamps, hut lor 

 the human stoves^ Ebierbing, liowever, was now again successful 

 in the capture of a full-grown seal weighing 250 pounds. Hall went 

 down the coast a half mile, and attaching a dog-team to the seal, in 

 fifteen minutes had it in his igloo, and shared it all around with his 

 friends, including Shoo-she-ark-nooJi. Niik-er-zhoo brought in a load of 

 venison from a distant deposit. Plenty came again. February, there- 

 fore, closed with widely-extended moss-wicks on all their fire-lamps, 

 once more aglow ; — with the stomachs, which had nearly collai)sed, 

 again filled to repletion. Sorrowful faces and silence then gave way 

 to smiles and to merry voices. 



Within the first few days of March, Slioo-sJie- ark-nook and his 

 family made their long-talked-of move to a new point north, half way 

 to the Wager River, expecting to catch salmon through the ice and 

 to gather supplies of reindeer from some of their own deposits. The 

 conduct of this Innuit had, for some time past, given uneasiness, 

 small tools and other articles which had disappeared from the passage- 

 ways usually considered safe, having been found in his igloo ; besides 

 which, serious apprehensions were renewed that he was again persuad- 

 ing the rest of the natives to desert Hall. On parting, however, he 

 promised to give his assistance on Hall's proposed journey to Repulse 

 Bay ; and, not long after, he sent back to him a very acceptable 

 present of frozen salmon, asking for tobacco, and receiving it cor- 

 dially, together with blubber, medicine, and some food. 



Plall, with Ebierbing and Too-koo-li-too, now entered a new igloo, 

 called the "seventh encampment," distant 120 fathoms further south. 

 This was to gratify the superstitious notion that since so few of the 

 people now remained in the village they must abandon all their old 



