180 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



February amon £ tnem ' 1 ma y nere relate. Some time before, Iligliuk, who, from the 

 superior neatness and cleanliness with which she performed her work, washy 

 this time in great request as a sempstress, had promised to cover for me a 

 little model of a canoe, and had in fact sent it to me by the serjeant of ma- 

 rines, though I had not rightly understood from the latter from which of 

 the women it came. Believing that she had failed in her promise, I now 

 taxed her with it, when she immediately defended herself with considerable 

 warmth and seriousness, but without making me comprehend her meaning. 

 Finding that she was wasting her words upon me, she said no more till 

 an hour afterwards, when the serjeant accidentally coming into the cabin, she, 

 with the utmost composure, but with a decision of manner peculiar to herself, 

 took hold of his arm to engage his attention, and then looking him steadfastly 

 in the face, accused him of not having faithfully executed her commission to 

 me. The mistake was thus instantly explained, and I thanked Iligliuk for 

 her canoe ; but it is impossible for me to describe the quiet, yet proud, satis- % 

 faction displayed in her countenance, at having thus cleared herself from the 

 imputation of a breach of promise. 



There being among the presents Avith which we were supplied a number 

 of pikes, we presented two or three of these from each ship to the most de- 

 serving of the Esquimaux, to serve as staves for their spears ; and valuable 

 ones they proved to them. Upon each pike were marked by small nails 

 driven into the wood the words " Fury and Hecla, 1822." 



Almost the whole of these people were now affected with violent colds 

 and coughs, occasioned by a considerable thawing that had lately taken 

 place in their huts, so as to wet their clothes and bedding; though, as 

 will be seen by the Meteorological Register, we had as yet experienced 

 no great increase of temperature. From the nature of their habitations, 

 however, their comfort was greater, and their chance of health better when 

 the cold was more severe. On this account they began to make fresh alte- 

 rations in these curious dwelling-places, either by building the former apart- 

 ments two or three feet higher, or adding others that they might be less 

 crowded. In building a higher hut they construct it over, and, as it were, 

 concentric with the old one, which is then removed from within. It is 

 curious to consider that, in all these alterations, the object kept in view was 

 coolness, and this in houses formed of snow ! 



Some of them had caught a Avolf in their trap ; but we found that nothing 

 less than extreme want could have induced them to eat the flesh of that 



