176 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. Sun, others with that of the Moon, several with different 



^' kinds of birds and beasts of prey, and many with the images 



of imaginary beings, which, [149] according to their silly 



notions, are the inhabitants of the differents elements. Earth, 



Sea, Air, &c. 



On enquiring the reason of their doing so, I learned that each 

 man painted his shield with the image of that being on which he 

 relied most for success in the intended engagement. Some were 

 contented with a single representation ; while others, doubtful, 

 as I suppose, of the quality and power of any single being, 

 had their shields covered to the very margin with a group of 

 hieroglyphics, quite unintelligible to every one except the 

 painter. Indeed, from the hurry in which this business was 

 necessarily done, the want of every colour but red and black, 

 and the deficiency of skill in the artist, most of those paintings 

 had more the appearance of a number of accidental blotches, 

 than " of any thing that is on the earth, or in the water 

 under the earth " ; and though some few of them conveyed 

 a tolerable idea of the thing intended, yet even these were 

 many degrees worse than our country sign - paintings in 

 England. 



When this piece of superstition was completed, we began 

 to advance toward the Esquimaux tents ; but were very care- 

 ful to avoid crossing any hills, or talking loud, for fear of 

 being seen or overheard by the inhabitants ; by which means 

 the distance was not only much greater than it otherwise would 

 have been, but, for the sake of keeping in the lowest grounds, 

 we were obliged to walk through [150J entire swamps of stiff 

 marly clay, sometimes up to the knees. Our course, however, 

 on this occasion, though very serpentine, was not altogether so 

 remote from the river as entirely to exclude me from a view 

 of it the whole way : on the contrary, several times (according 

 to the situation of the ground) we advanced so near it, as to 

 give me an opportunity of convincing myself that it was as 

 unnavigable as it was in those parts which I had surveyed 



