130 CAPTAIN CART WRIGHT'S 



London were supplied with food, I could never 

 make them fully comprehend, any more than I 

 could the number of people by which the metrop- 

 olis was inhabited. Their arithmetic goes no 

 higher than the number twenty-one; therefore, 

 the best I could do, was to tell them, that a certain 

 number of large whales would serve them for one 

 meal only. Nothing surprised them more, than 

 to meet with a man who assured them he could 

 not shoot, had never killed an animal, nor seen 

 the sea in his life. 



After my return to town, by his Majesty's per- 

 mission, I took them to Court; where their dresses 

 and behaviour made them greatly taken notice of. 

 They were also at the houses of several of the 

 nobility and people of fashion; and I omitted 

 nothing, which came within the compass of my 

 pocket, to make their stay in England agreeable, 

 or to impress them with ideas of our riches and 

 strength. The latter I thought highly necessary, 

 as they had often, when in Labrador, spoken of 

 our numbers with great contempt, and told me 

 they were so numerous, that they could cut otf all 

 the English with great ease, if they thought 

 proper to collect themselves together; an opinion 

 which could not fail to produce in me very un- 

 pleasant reflections. But they had not been long 

 in London before they confessed to me, that the 

 Esquimaux were but as one, compared to that of 

 the English. 



At the same time, I did not neglect to provide 

 everything that was necessary for my return. I 



