WAR DECLARED. 451 



As soon as we found a favourable opportunity, the remainder of us moved to 

 the ' Louisa.' The Eskimos immediately made a rush for the bank, hoping 

 to catch us at a disadvantage ; but we were too quick for them. We got 

 into the boat, and shoved off, some of us always keeping our fire-arms at the 

 'present,' and soon joined our consorts. One fellow had the arrow on the 

 string, and his bow at full stretch, directed at me, when fortunately I saw 

 it, and covered him immediately. As soon as the rascal saw this, and 

 perceived besides that my gun had two ba,rrels, he thought better of it, 

 dropped himself and weapons down out of sight in a moment, and did not 

 show again. 



" This embarkation was effected with the loss of our cocoa and boats' 

 anchors, which the bow-man in his hurry had forgotten, until it was too late 

 to pull in again ; and what was of more importance still, with the additional 

 inconvenience of losing part of the distance we had gained, for the wind was 

 now strong against us, and we were obliged to run back very nearly to where 

 we stopped the night before. Here, to lighten the ' Supply ' (nearly full of 

 water), I ordered three cases of pemmican to be taken out of her, and buried 

 on Jones's eastern island, at its south-east part, under the bank, where it 

 falls directly off to the gravelly beach ; but before we could either get bear- 

 ings or erect marks, the Eskimos were following us up, landing about a 

 quarter of a mile to the eastward, fully armed, and bent on mischief. 



" I felt very unwilling to come to extremes with these people, because if 

 blood should be once shed, there was no knowing where the matter would 

 end ; and as they might take an indiscriminate revenge on any weak party 

 of Europeans who might happen to travel in that direction, I considered it 

 better to get out of their way if possible. They appeared to be a daring set 

 of fellows, but, as far as we were concerned, I did not feel under any appre- 

 hension for the result should it come to the worst, although they mustered 

 very much stronger than we did, and appeared to gather much confidence 

 from this circumstance. But we had fully observed their dread of the 

 musket, and, as they had only seen a few, I could not help thinking they 

 imagined we were not all armed. Those who came from Point Berens, 

 I think, were urging them on, for ' Shovel Jack,' the name bestowed by the 

 sailors on the man who attempted to steal the shovel, generally appeared 

 amongst the foremost. Under these considerations we shoved off, and 

 I thought we might attempt to get up to the main pack, distant about two 

 miles, with quantities of drift tossing about with the gale in wild confusion 

 between the main ice and the northern shores of the islands. Thither I did 

 not think they would follow us, and we might get along easily under the lee 

 of the ice. We rounded the eastern point of the island, all stringing 

 on together, and were soon followed by two oomiaks (twenty men in each), 

 which occasionally ranged up abreast, crossing both ahead and astern, but at 



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