220 SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



1822. ]^p,. Whenever any explanation was necessary between the Esquimaux and 

 v-««^(-^ us, Ilififliuk was sent for quite as an interpreter; information was chiefly ob- 

 tained throu£fh her, and she thus found herself rising into a degree of conse- 

 quence to which, but for us, she could never have attained. Notwithstanding 

 a more than ordinary share of good sense on her |)art, it will not therefore 

 be wondered at if she became giddy with her exaltation, assuming certain 

 airs which, though iniinitely diversified in their operation according to circum- 

 stances, perhaps universally attend a too sudden accession of good fortune in 

 every child of Adam from the equator to the poles. The consequence was 

 that Iligliuk Avas soon spoiled ; considered her admission into tlie ships and 

 most of the cabins no longer as an indulgence but a riglit ; ceased to return 

 the slightest acknowledgment for any kindness or presents ; became lisdess 

 and inattentive in unravelling the meaning of our questions, and careless 

 whether her answers conveyed the information we desired. In short, Iligliuk 

 in February and Iligliuk in April were confessedly very different persons; 

 and it was at last amusing to recollect, though not very easy to persuade one's 

 seli", that the woman who now sat demurely in a chair so confidently exj)ect- 

 ing the notice of those around her, and she who had at first with eager and 

 wild delight assisted in cutting snow for the building of a hut, and with 

 the hope of obtaining a single needle, were actually one and the same 

 individual. 



Togolat came down to the ships to-day to see her brother Okotook ; she 

 was accompanied by Arnalooa, and on their arrival they were both sent for 

 into the cabin. We observed liowever that they required an unusual degree 

 of solicitation to make them go near Okotook, or even to the side of the cabin 

 where he lay concealed by a skreen ; and after all, they remained in the op- 

 posite corner next the door ; and having talked freely to the invalid for some 

 time, took their leave without seeing him. In the evening, after they wei'c 

 gone, we found that this unfortunate though well-intended visit was occasion- 

 ing great distress to Okotook, who talked for two hours almost incessantly 

 about " Arnalooa's having seen him," which it seems ought not to have been 

 the case. What misfortune was to be apprehended in consequence of this 

 event we could not learn ; but he spoke of it in a kind of agony, and was evi- 

 dently labouring under the influence of some powerful though absurd super- 

 stition respecting it. Towards night he sufft'red a dreadful bleeding at the 

 nose followed by much sickness at the stomach which, together with the 

 phantom of Arnalooa which still haunted his imagination, combined to make 



