182 DEPARTURE FROM CHURCHILL. 



for Knapp's Bay. Before they started,, Augustus 

 was very desirous that I should see his coun- 

 trymen conjure ; and bringing a blanket and a 

 large knife, he assured me that one of them 

 would swallow the knife, and not die ; or fire a 

 ball through his body, leaning upon a gun, 

 without being injured. I understood that he 

 was to perform this jugglery with the blanket 

 round him, which I objected to, if I saw it ; 

 but told him that I had great objections to 

 such deceptions and art, by which they im- 

 posed on each other ; and observed, that if his 

 countrymen could really conjure, they should 

 conjure the whales to the shore, which were 

 then sporting in the river before us. He was 

 not pleased, however, with my refusal, and it 

 was with difficulty that I prevented the exhi- 

 bition. When the party left us, they encircled 

 me, and said that they would tell all of their 

 tribe what had been mentioned about teaching 

 the Esquimaux children white man's know- 

 ledge of the Great Spirit. They informed me 

 that a great many of the Esquimaux meet in 

 summer about Chesterfield Inlet ; that some 

 come down from the great lake to the north, 

 and that they had met some, who had seen two 

 very large canoes when there was no ice ; and 

 when one of these canoes stood in towards the 



