218 SECOND JOURNEY TO THE 



the purport of our visit, and told them that 

 if we succeeded in finding a navigable chan- 

 nel for large ships, a trade highly beneficial 

 to them would be opened. They were de- 

 lighted with this intelligence, and repeated 

 it to their countrymen, who testified their 

 joy by tossing their hands aloft, and raising 

 the most deafening shout of applause I ever 

 heard. 



" After the first present, I resolved to 

 bestow no more gratuitously, but always to 

 exact something, however small, in return ; 

 the three elderly men readily offered the 

 ornaments they wore in their cheeks, their 

 arms, and knives, in exchange for the arti- 

 cles I gave them. Up to this time, the first 

 three were the only kaiyacks that had ven- 

 tured near the boats, but the natives around 

 us had now increased to two hundred and 

 fifty or three hundred persons, and they all 

 became anxious to share in the lucrative 

 trade which they saw established, and 

 pressed eagerly upon us, offering for sale 

 their bows, arrows, and spears, which they 

 had hitherto kept concealed within their 



