OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE. I73 



they had become rather an annoyance in this way. They now brought with '^■^■'^• 

 them a great many little canoes and paddles, sledges, figures of men and v.#-y-^' 

 women, and other toys, most of them already bespoke by the officers and men, 

 and the rest for sale. 



There was to-day a great deal of open water to the southward, and it had 

 once more approached us within half a mile, the ice at the mouth of the bay 

 having broken off and drifted away. Mr. Crozier, who visited the huts, 

 found that the Esquimaux, as well as ourselves, had been induced to attempt 

 the destruction of their followers, the wolves, by setting a trap for them not 

 unlike ours, except in the materials, which consisted only of their staple com- 

 modity, ice. They had indeed great occasion to employ some such means 

 to destroy these rapacious animals, which had already carried off" one or 

 two of their dogs, and threatened nightly to repeat this outrage. 



Toolooak, who now considered himself as quite piniU-ged to find his way Mon. 18. 

 into the cabin without a conductor, and was not backward in thus practising 

 his newly-acquired art of opening and shutting the door, sat with me for a 

 couple of hours on the 18th, quietly drawing faces and animals, an occupa- 

 tion to which he took a great fancy ; and we often were reminded, by this 

 circumstance, of a similar propensity displayed by his amiable countryman, 

 our lamented friend John Sackhouse. We soon found that Toolooak pos- 

 sessed a capacity equal to any tiling he chose to take an interest in learning ; 

 and could he at his present age have been voluntarily removed from his com- 

 panions, and his attention directed to the acquirement of higher branches of 

 knowledge than that cf catching seals, he would amply have repaid any pains 

 bestowed upon his education. I had always entertained great objection to 

 taking any such individual from his home, on the doubtful chance of benefit- 

 ing himself, or of his doing any service to the public as an interpreter. My 

 scruples on this head had hitherto been confined (o the consideration due to 

 the individual himself, and to the relatives he leaves behind. In our present 

 case, however, not the smallest public advantage could be derived from it ; 

 for it had long ago become evident that we should soon know more of the 

 Esquimaux language than any of them were likely to learn of English in any 

 reasonable period of time : I was therefore far from desiring to receive from 

 Toolooak an answer in the affirmative, when I to-day j>]ainly put the ques- 

 tion to him, whether he would go with me to kablaom nooiia (European 

 country). Never was a more decisive negative given than Toolooak gave to 

 this proposd. lie eagerly repeated the word Na-o (No) half a dozen times. 



