14 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



1821. and in one instance only did we notice any inclination to break the contract 

 vj^^ after this process had been gone through. 



Sliortly after these men had arrived, a largo oomicik, or women's boat, made 

 its appearance, containing six or seven females and four men, the oldest of 

 the latter, as seemed usual among them, steering the boat with a rude oar 

 of wood. The women could not be induced to laufl upon the floe, but held 

 up skins and small narrow strips of well-tanned leather to exchange, loudly 

 vociferating pilletai/ (give me) the whole time. There were in this boat seve- 

 ral skins of oil and blubber, which I tried hard to purchase, but nothing 

 could induce the old man to ])art with more than one skin of it ; for what 

 reason I could not tell, except that he hoped, by perseverance, to obtain a 

 higher price. On my desiring our men to hand out a second skin of oil, as 

 an equivalent for which I j)ut into the old man's hand a second knife, he re- 

 sisted most vehemently, pushing our men aside in the boat with a violence I 

 have never seen the Esquimaux use on any other occasion. One of the 

 yoinigcr men then came forward and was lifting up the stretcher of their 

 boat to strike our people, who were good-humouredly laughing at the old 

 man's violence ; when I thought it high time to interpose, and, raising a boat- 

 hook over the head of the Esquimaux, as if about to strike them, soon brouglit 

 them into a cooler mood ; after which, to prevent further altercation, I or- 

 dered our people out of the boat. We had, by this time, succeeded in pur- 

 chasing all the oil brought by the first canoes, and as the old fellow, wlio was 

 commanding officer of the oomiak, obstinately persisted in liis refusal to sell 

 his, I ordered him away, when he immediately rowed to the Hecla and, as 

 I was after^vards informed by Captain Lyon, sold his oil for less than he 

 niicht have obtained at first, Four other oomictks afterwards came from the 

 shore, from which we were distant five or six miles. Each of these contained 

 from fourteen to twenty-six persons, the majority being females and young 

 children. Upon the whole, not less than one hundred of the natives visited 

 the ships in the course of the evening. 



These people possessed in an eminent degree the disposition to steal all 

 they could lay their hands on, which has almost universally been imjmted 

 to every tribe of Esquimaux hitherto visited by Europeans. They tried, more 

 than once, the art of picking our pockets, and were as bold and unembar- 

 rassed as ever, immediately after detection. It is impossible to describe the 

 horribly disgusting manner in which they sat down, as soon as they felt 

 hungry, to eat their vayv blubber, and to suck the oil remaining on the skins 



