SHORES OF THE POLAR SEA. 235 



take of the benefits which his tribe derived 

 from their intercourse with the white peo- 

 ple. I told Augustus to put their sincerity 

 to the test by desiring them to bring back 

 a large kettle and the tent, which they did, 

 together with some shoes, having sent for 

 them to the island whither they had been 

 conveyed. After this act of restitution, 

 Augustus requested to be permitted to join 

 a dance to which they had invited him, and 

 he was, for upwards of an hour, engaged in 

 dancing and singing with all his might in 

 the midst of a company who were all armed 

 with knives, or bows and arrows. He after- 

 wards told us that he was much delighted 

 on finding that the words of the song, and 

 the different attitudes of the dances, were 

 precisely similar to those used in his own 

 country when a friendly meeting took place 

 with strangers. Augustus now learned from 

 them that there was a regular ebb and flow 

 of the tide in this bay, and that when the 

 sun came round to a particular point there 

 would be water enough to float the boats, 

 if we kept along the western shore. This 



