162 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



February ^ n 01ir rct,irn 011 board we were informed that, during our absence in the 

 morning, a flock of thirteen wolves, the first yet seen, crossed the ice in 



the bay, from the direction of the huts and passed near the ships. These 

 animals, as we afterwards learned, had accompanied or closely followed the 

 Esquimaux on their journey to the island the preceding day ; and they proved 

 to us the most troublesome part of their suite. They so much resemble the 

 Esquimaux dogs that, had it not been for some doubt among the officers who 

 had seen them whether they were so or not, and the consequent fear of doing 

 these poor people an irreparable injury, we might have killed most of them 

 the same evening, for they came boldly to look for food within a few yards 

 of the Fury, and remained there for some time. 



In order to prevent our people from occasioning the Esquimaux any dis- 

 turbance or apprehension, I directed that only six from each ship should be 

 allowed to visit the huts at one time, and that they should then be always 

 accompanied by an officer. A strict prohibition was, at the same time, issued 

 against the smallest article of the ships' stores being given to the people 

 without permission, on pain of severe punishment. 

 Sat. 2. At an early hour on the 2d, we set out with a large party on our proposed 

 excursion to the huts. The natives received us with great cordiality though 

 with somewhat more noisy expressions of pleasure than before ; and we soon 

 began a more minute examination of their habitations and furniture in which 

 they readily assisted us, except that they always sat very closely on the deer- 

 skins which composed their beds, under which were stowed such articles as 

 they were least willing or able to dispose of. They sold however a great 

 number of their things without reluctance ; and it was indeed astonishing to 

 see with what eagerness they would, for the mere sake of change and variety, 

 barter some of their most indispensable articles for the veriest trifles in our 

 possession. For instance, a single sewing-needle, of which they possessed 

 abundance not much inferior to our own, procured from them a large well- 

 sharpened pctima*-, or man's knife made of stout iron, for which in point of 

 absolute utility a hundred needles would not have been a fair equivalent. 

 Various other instances of the same kind occurred by which indeed they were 

 not ultimately losers, though they certainly would have been so had our inter- 

 course ended here. 



* For an explanation of the mode of accenting the Esquimaux words used in the course of 

 this Journal, I must refer to the remarks immediately preceding the vocabulary at the end of 

 the last chapter. 



