JoNE, 1858. THE ARCTIC HIGHLANDERS. 137 



Esquimaux may be considered exceedingly- 

 harmless. 



Of late years these Arctic Highlanders have 

 become alarmed by the rapid diminution of 

 their numbers through famine and disease, and 

 have been less violent towards each other in 

 their feuds aud quarrels. 



The appearance of these men, as they danced 

 and rolled about in frantic delight at our ap- 

 proach, was wild and strange, and their costume 

 uniform and picturesque. Their long, coarse, 

 black hair hung loosely over the sealskin frock, 

 which in its turn overlapped their loose shaggy 

 bearskin breeches, and these again came down 

 over the tops of their sealskin boots. Most of 

 them carried a spear formed out of the horn of 

 a narwhal. 



Having distributed presents of knives and 

 needles, and explained to them that we did so 

 because they had behaved well to the white 

 people (as we learn from Dr. Kane's narrative 

 of their treatment of him and his crew), we 

 pursued our voyage, not doubting but that we 

 should soon reach the North Water, an extensive 

 sea through which we could sail uninterruptedly 

 to Pond's Bay. 



During the night we advanced through loose 

 ice ; but fog and a rising S.E. gale delayed us. 



