OF THE POLAR SEA. 



89 



this change in his conduct, and next morn- 

 ing he took an opportunity of telling me 

 that I must not think the worse of him for 

 his importunities. It was their custom, he 

 said, to do so, however strange it might 

 appear to us, and he, as the leader of his 

 party, had to beg for them all; but as he 

 saw we had not deceived him by concealing 

 any of our goods, and that we really had 

 nothing left, he should ask for no more. 

 He then told me that he would set out for 

 the river as soon as the state of the country 

 admitted of travelling. The snow, he re- 

 marked, was still too deep for sledges to 

 the northward, and the moss too wet to 

 make fires. He was seconded in this opi- 

 nion by Long-legs, whom I was the more 

 inclined to believe, knowing that he was 

 anxious to rejoin his family as soon as pos- 

 sible. 



Akaitcho now accepted the dress he had 

 formerly refused, and next day clothed him- 

 self in another new suit, which he had re- 

 ceived from us in the autumn. Ever since 

 his arrival at the fort, he had dressed 



