THE ANVIL. 



451 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



The Anvil. — Preparations for returning Home. — Excursion to Bayard Taylor Pass. 

 — Hard Climbing. — An extensive View. — The Ice Pack in Davis's Strait. — A 



rapid Descent. — Return to the Ship. — Startling Announcement of Captain B . 



— Another Winter in the Ice. — General Gloom. — A bitter Disappointment. — How 

 to live and keep Warm. — Innuit Simplicity regarding Money. — Author's Prop- 

 osition concerning Stores. 



The events that followed my return to the ship on Thursday, 

 October 10th, 1861, were similar to those that I have already re- 

 lated. We all naturally wished to get away and proceed on the 

 voyage home ; ice had begun to form, and we felt that the time 

 was now come for our departure, if we meant to leave that year. 

 Thus a few days passed on, during which several of our friends, 

 the Innuits, who had been at different places hunting and sealing, 

 returned. Among them were Ugarng, Artarkparu, and Annawa. 

 Each of these, on my questioning them, spoke of the particular 

 relic on Oopungnewing I had been so anxious to obtain from the 

 moment when Artarkparu told me of it, as recorded in the previ- 

 ous chapter ; and upon requesting them to do so, they each made 

 from wood a model of the article, working at different times, and 

 without the least consultation among themselves. 



I here introduce an extract from my journal as written at the 

 time : 



"Saturday, October 12th, 1861. At 9 A.M. I had interviews with 

 several Innuits concerning the important relic that must still be 

 on the island Oopungnewing. Ugarng saw this relic (which to 

 me is yet undetermined as to its true character) when a young 

 man. He says that one very strong Innuit, now dead, could lift 

 it, and even did shoulder it. JSTo other Innuit could accomplish the 

 same feat. Another lifted it to the height of his knees, but drop- 

 ped it quickly. Only very few Innuits were able to raise it from 

 the ground. Suzhi, at my request, has just made a pencil sketch 

 of its shape — at least, as near as she could. She evidently never 

 took a pencil in her hand before. Ugarng, who is quite experi- 

 enced in map sketching, has marked out its shape on the same 



