184 Thirty Years 4 
repressed his feeble effort, and soon calmed his fears 
by presenting him with some pieces of iron, and 
assuring him of his friendly intentions. Dr.’Richard- 
son and I then joined them, and, after receiving our 
presents, the old man was quite composed, and be- 
came communicative. His dialect differed from that — 
used by Augustus, but they understood each other 
tolerably well. 
It appeared that his party consisted of eight men 
and their families, who were returning from a hunting 
excursion with dried meat. After being told who we 
were, he said, that he had heard of white people from 
different parties of his nation which resided on the sea- 
coast to the eastward ; and to our inquiries respecting 
the provision and fuel we might expect to get on our 
voyage, he informed us that the reindeer frequent the 
coast during summer, the fish are plentiful at the 
mouths of the rivers, the seals are abundant, but there 
are no sea-horses nor whales, although he remember- 
ed one of the latter, which had been killed by some 
distant tribe, having been driven on shore on his 
part of the coast by a gale of wind ; that musk oxen 
were to be found a little distance up the rivers, and 
that we should find drift wood along the shore, He 
had no knowledge of the coast to the eastward beyond 
the next river, which he called Nappa-arktok-towock, 
or Tree River. The old man, contrary to the Indian 
