MEETING WITH NATIVES 



As before, we were accompanied by an escort of kyacks, but 

 after a time they fell behind and returned to the village. 



As we had been informed by the natives, so we soon found, 

 we were at last at the mouth of the great Dubawnt, and grad- 

 ually as we passed out into the broad, shallow delta and 

 gazed over the deep blue, limitless waters beyond, the gratify- 

 ing fact forced itself upon us that we had accomplished what 

 we had started out to do, viz., to explore a route through the 

 heart of the Barren Lands, where certainly no other white 

 men, if indeed Indians or Eskimos, had ever passed. We were 

 still, of course, a long way from being out of the Barren Land 

 country, but once on the waters of Baker Lake, as we now 

 were, the remainder of the road was to some extent knovsm 

 to us. 



Before proceeding further with my narrative, I shall 

 digress a little, believing that the reader will be interested by 

 some particulars concerning the Eskimos. Having in former 

 expeditions spent nearly two years among these people, I had 

 abundant opportunity for studying their habits and customs 

 of life. Some of the observations thus made I shall record 

 in the next two chapters. 



ESKIMOS IN KYACKS. 



121 



