210 



SECOND VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 



April' weatner °t u i te overcast, except towards six P.M. For two hours in the 

 v^-v-w forenoon, when the sun made an effort to appear, a parhelion, tinged with 

 the prismatic colours, appeared on each side of it ; and nearer to that object 

 by 30' was a halo of 22° 35' radius, also coloured, the red tint being as usual 

 next the sun. An instance or two of the parhelion being situated without 

 the circle have been mentioned * as occurring at Melville Island, but the 

 phenomenon appears to be a rare one. 



We were now glad to begin making some shew of re-equipping the ships 

 for sea ; for though this was a business that might if necessary have been very 

 well accomplished in two or three weeks, it was better to employ the men in 

 occupations having an evident and determinate object, than in those less 

 obviously useful ones to which it was necessary to resort during the winter. 

 We therefore brought down some of the boats to the ships to repair, put up 

 the forge on the ice, and built a snow-house over it, and set about various 

 other jobs, which made the neighbourhood of the ships assume a busy and 

 bustling appearance. 



I had to-day a visit from Okotook and Iligliuk, who, with their son, came in 

 upon their sledge from the distant huts. Being desirous of entertaining them 

 well, in return for their late hospitality, we provided abundance to eat, and 

 shewed them every thing about the ship that we thought likely to amuse 

 them. Of all the wonders they had ever witnessed on board, there was no- 

 thing which seemed to impress them so strongly with a sense of our supe- 

 riority as the forge, and the work which the armourer performed with it. 

 The welding of two pieces of iron especially excited their admiration, and 

 I never saw Iligliuk express so much astonishment at any thing before. 

 Even in this her superior good sense was observable, for it was evident 

 that the utility of what she saw going on was what forced itself upon her 

 mind ; and she watched every stroke of the hammer and each blast of the 

 bellows with extreme eagerness, while numbers of the other Esquimaux 

 looked stupidly on, without expressing the smallest curiosity or interest 

 in the operation, except by desiring to have some spear-heads fashioned 

 out by this means. Iligliuk was always very much entertained also by 

 pictures having any relation to the Esquimaux in other parts, and de- 

 rived great entertainment from a description of any difference in their 

 clothes, utensils, or weapons. Of these the sail in an Esquimaux boat 



Journal of the Voyage of 1819-20, p. Yl%. 



