INNUIT OBSTINACY. 



421 



CHAPTER XXYI. 



Continue the Voyage. — Land on an Island. — Innuit Insolence. — Leave Kingaite 

 Coast for the North Side of the Bay of Frobisher. — Arrive at nineteenth Encamp- 

 ment. — Innuit Superstition. — Extraordinary Scenes. — Singular Customs. — Twen- 

 tieth Encampment. — Drinking Deer's Blood. — Twenty-first Encampment. — 

 More Ankooting. — Mystical Songs. — "Fool's Gold." — Parting with old Too-loo- 

 ka-ah. — Arrival at Niountelik. — Proceed to Kodlunarn, or "White Man's" Isl- 

 and. — Important Discoveries. — Ship's Trench. — Ruins of Stone Houses. — Coal 

 and Tile. — Return to Niountelik and encamp. — Next Day's Search. — Cruise in 

 " Countess of Warwick Sound." — The American Flag again upraised. — Arrive 

 at Tikkoon. — Discovery of a heavy Piece of Iron. — Passage across the Sound. — 

 Strong Breeze. — Proceed up Victoria Bay. — Magnificent Scenery. — Precipitous 

 Mountains. — A Cave. — A Seal floating on the Waters. — Ekkelezhun. — A fine and 

 secure Harbor. — Discovery of several Tons of Coal and Flint-stones. — Return to 

 Niountelik. 



That the reader may be advancing with me as I proceed with 

 my narrative, and, at the same time, get an idea of some of the 

 trials referred to near the close of the preceding chapter, I will 

 here introduce the following extracts directly from my " rough- 

 and-ready" note-book, written at the moment and upon the spur 

 of the occasion : 



" August 15th, 1861. Start from eighteenth encampment at 6 15 

 A.M., wind light from the west, and cloudy. Both boats and the 

 two kias under way. ' Miner' has just shot a nowyer on the 

 wing from his kia. First pop, down it comes. We are on the 

 rocks first thing ; 1 bad beginning, good ending.' Under oars ; 

 the fifth oar can not be used on account of the overloaded boat. 

 Another Job's comforter on my shoulder, the sinister. Geese fly- 

 ing to the southward. Little girl Shoo-kok (whalebone) on board 

 our boat. 8 45 A.M., land on a small island to bail the old leaky 

 boat. This moment I ask Koojesse which way now, the many 

 islands ahead making it doubtful which is the better course. He 

 points across the bay to the other or north side. I suspected this 

 was the way he was directing the boat. He acts the devil with 

 me. My work on this, the Kingaite side, is ended. I said to him 

 I can not do the work I wanted to. * "* * * 



" I must submit, hard as it is. Why did not the fellow tell me 



