208 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



1822. old lady herself, who was soon up to her elbows in blood and oil. Before a 

 diyi> knife is put into the animal, as it lies on its back, they pour a little water into 

 its mouth, and touch each flipper and the middle of the belly with a little lamp- 

 black and oil taken from the under part of the lamp. What benefit was ex- 

 pected from this preparatory ceremony we could not learn, but it was done 

 with a degree of superstitious care and seriousness that bespoke its indis- 

 pensable importance. The boys came eagerly into the hut as usual, and held 

 out their foreheads for the old woman to stick the charms upon them ; and it 

 was not till now that we learned from Iligliuk the efficacy of this very useful 

 custom. As soon as this dirty operation was at an end, during which the nu- 

 merous by-standers amused themselves in chewing the intestines of the seal, 

 the strangers retired to their own huts, each bearing a small portion of the 

 flesh and blubber, while our hosts enjoyed a hearty meal of boiled meat 

 and hot gravy soup. Young Sioutkuk ate at least three pounds of solid 

 meat in the first three hours after our arrival at the huts, besides a tolerable 

 proportion of soup, all which his mother gave him whenever he asked it 

 without the smallest remark of any kind. We now found that they depended 

 on catching seals alone for their subsistence, there being no walruses in this 

 neighbourhood. As they were several miles from any open water, their 

 mode of killing them was entirely confined to watching for the animals 

 coming up in the holes they make through the ice. 



In the course of the evening, our conversation happened to turn on the 

 Indians, a people whom none of these Esquimaux had ever seen ; but with 

 whose ferocity and decided hostility to their own nation they seemed to be 

 well acquainted. They described also their peculiar manner of paddling 

 their canoes, and were aware that they made use of the kind of snow- 

 shoes which we shewed them. When I related to them as well as I Avas 

 able the massacre of the Esquimaux recorded by Hearne, and gave them 

 to understand that the Indians spared neither sex nor age, it seemed 

 to chill them with horror, and I was almost sorry that I had told them the 

 story. 



Sat. 6. The weather proved very thick on the 6th, with a heavy fall of snow, the 

 wind still blowing however from the N.N.W., and increasing almost to a 

 gale in the course of the day ; so that when we set out on our return we could 

 scarcely distinguish an object an hundred yards before us. Toolooak was 

 deputed to accompany us with a sledge for carrying our baggage ; and after 

 some difficulty we contrived to get sight of the island, and arrived on board 



