DISAPPOINTED BUT NOT DISHEARTENED. 



323 



whale-boat was unfit. Captain B continued to say that I 



had not any more of an outfit, provision, etc., than I should take, 

 but that, with the crew necessary, I could not possibly carry more 

 than a very small proportion of what I had. He found that with 

 the boat's crew, and the three line-tubs each boat has, no addition- 

 al weight could be added to navigate in such waters as he knew I 

 would be obliged to in getting to the point of my destination. 



"This is a serious matter with me — one pregnant with such 

 thoughts I can not put upon paper. I can not, I will not sell my 

 life foolishly. If the loss of my expedition boat, which was well 

 planned and strongly made, has taken from me the proper, the 

 only judicious means of carrying out my purpose of going to King 

 William's Land, then I must delay — I must lose one year in re- 

 turning to the States and preparing again for the voyage that I 

 am still determined to make, God willing. I will refer in my 

 journal to this subject again." 



Among the Innuits staying at the whale depot was the woman 

 Puto, mother of the semi-white child. This poor woman was very 

 badly off, her husband being dead, and she had but scant means 

 of providing for herself and offspring. Seeing her sad condition, 

 I gave her several trinkets, and, in addition, a box -of 100 percus- 

 sion caps. This latter present caused her to weep for joy. She 

 knew not how enough to thank me. With them she could trade 

 among her people for many conveniences she wanted. Any 

 thing in the way of ammunition is thought more of by the Innu- 

 its than almost any other articles that could be named. 



At this time the weather was fine, and the view of Kingaite, 

 with its miles and miles of mountain wall, its glaciers, and its 

 snows, was grand indeed. More than ever was I desirous of ex- 

 ploring that coast; and I thought that, even if nothing else could 

 be done, I might possibly examine some of the places made fa- 

 mous by Frobisher's voyages in 1576, 7, and '8. "Bear Sound" 

 was but a short distance to the eastward, and the second day after 

 my arrival at the whale depot I took with me "Captain" (Koker- 

 jabin's youngest son), and walked toward it. But he proved only 

 a hinderance to me. I had to go full fifteen miles to reach a point 

 of land distant not more than two and a half miles in a direct line. 

 I was obliged to make for the head of Chapell Inlet by first wad- 

 ing through some soft, wet snow, that covered shore-ice and the 

 land on my way. Then I had to make a long circuit around 

 some stones and rocks, and afterward ascend hill after hill, going 



