430. Thirty Years 
that this party is usually employed, during the sum- 
mer, in catching whales and seals, in the vicinity of | 
the Mackenzie, and that they seldom travel to, the 
westward beyond a few days’ journey. We were, 
therefore, not much distressed by intelligence which 
we supposed might have originated in exaggerated 
accounts received from others, In thé evening Au- 
gustus returned with them to their tents, and two of 
the men undertook to fetch a specimen of the rock 
from Mount Fitton, which was distant about twenty 
miles. ~ 
The party assembled at divine service in the even- 
ing. The wind blew in violent squalls. during the 
night, which brought such a heavy swell upon the ice, 
that the larger masses near the encampment were 
broken before the morning of the 10th, but there was 
no change in the main body. © 
“Mou” The Esquimaux revisited us in the morning, 
with their women and children; the party consisted 
of forty-eight persons. They seated themselves as be- 
‘ fore, in a semicircle, the men being in front, and the 
women behind, Presents were made to those who. 
had not before received any ; and we afterwards pur- 
chased several pairs of seal-skin boots; a few pieces of 
dressed seal-skin, and some deer-skin cut and twisted, 
to be used as cords. Beads, pins, needles and orna- 
mental articles, were most in request by the women,. 
