FAREWELL TO GREENLAND 207 



die, which had been broken and mended, as onl}' an Eskimo 

 can mend, in at least a dozen different places, and gave him 

 an old sledge- runner for it. When the time came for the Old 

 Pirate to leave us all of us felt badly, and when he said " Goo- 

 by," with his peculiar accent, his eyes filled and he choked. 

 After this he would not turn his head in our direction, and 

 only waved his hand in answer to our good-byes. His pic- 

 ture, as he paddled himself with the sledge-runner, cur\ed at 

 both ends, to the shore, will never fade from my memory. 



As the " Kite " steamed slowly down the bay the natives 

 ran along the beach, shouting to us and waving their hands, 

 Kulutingwah bringing up the rear with a torn American flag 

 attached to a pole, which he waved frantically to the imminent 

 danger of those near him. I could not help thinking. Have 

 these poor ignorant people, who are absolutely isolated from 

 the rest of humanity, really benefited by their intercourse with 

 us, or have we only opened their eyes to their destitute con- 

 dition ? I hope the latter is not the case, for a happier, mer- 

 rier set of people I have never seen ; no thought beyond the 

 present, and no care beyond that of getting enough to eat 

 and to wear. As we steamed down the bay we turned our 

 eyes on the red cliffs, and when they faded from view Cape 

 Cleveland and Herbert and Northumberland Islands were the 

 only familiar landmarks left in sight. On these we gazed 

 with the feeling that we were looking our last upon the scene. 

 The old Cape, especially, seemed very near and dear to me ; 

 twice it had sheltered and protected me from the fury of an 



