304 EXPEDITIONS OF PARRY AND ROSS— 1827 -S3. 



panied the natives part of the way back to their huts, and coming to a seal- 

 hole in the ice, the Eskimos showed their new friends the use of the spear 

 in enlarging the hole for the insertion of a twig of birch or ash. It is their 

 custom to sit patiently, watching at the seal-holes until they see the twig 

 agitated. They then know that the seal has come to the hole to breathe, 

 when immediately they strike him through the thin ice with their spears 

 and secure him. 



On the following day, 10th January 1830, Eoss, with a party, set out 

 from the ship to inspect the village of the Eskimos. The houses had the 

 appearance of inverted basins, and the low snow-built passage forming the 

 entrance looked like the handle of each. The entrance passage can be 

 easily moved, and in severe weather is always turned away from the direc- 

 tion of the prevailing wind. The passage, always long, and generally 

 crooked, led to the principal apartment, which was a circular dome, ten feet 

 in diameter when intended to accommodate only one family, but larger when 

 it contained two families. A third of the area of the interior was occupied 

 by a bench of hard snow, two and a half feet high. This bench formed the 

 sleeping-place for the whole family, and when so used, was covered with 

 skins. The houses were lighted by a large piece of clear ice, fixed half-way 

 up on the eastern side of the roof. The oil lamp, with its wick of moss, 

 kept the whole hut warm, and supplied sufficient light during the dark 

 weather. 



The friendly intercourse thus commenced between the explorers and the 

 Eskimos of the east coast of Boothia Felix continued uninterrupted for 

 many a day. One of Eoss's principal objects in securing the goodwill of 

 the natives was to obtain from them all the geographical information of 

 which they were possessed. Accordingly, he frequently had parties of the 

 best informed of the Eskimos to dinner in his cabin, when, after regaling 

 them with soup and salmon — they decUned to touch salt meat, and would 

 on no account look at pudding, rice, or cheese — ^pencils, paper, and the 

 charts of the land round Eegent's Inlet, so far as known, were placed before 

 them, and they were invited to continue the land lines, and to insert the lakes 

 rivers, etc., with which they were familiar. But as no noteworthy result 

 accrued from these geographical stances, we must not linger over their details. 

 One of the best native geographers was TuUuahui, the man who had lost his 

 leg in the encounter with the bear. This hunter's contributions to the geo- 

 graphy of the neighbouring coasts were magnificently rewarded. To his great 

 astonishment he was one day handed over to the surgeon of the " Victory " 

 who examined his leg, found the stump good, and, calling the carpenter, 

 directed him to take the necessary measurements, and make a wooden one. 

 The commission was most successfully executed, and TuUuahui, with a broad 

 foot-piece fitted to his wooden leg, to enable him to walk on difficult ice with 



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