284 
VOYAGE FOR THE DISCOVERY 
1820 . and the skins are made to overlap in that part of the tent, which is much lower 
than the inner end. The covering is fastened to the ground by curved 
pieces of bone, being generally parts of the whale ; the tents were ten or 
fifteen yards apart, and about the same distance from the beach. 
The canoe which I purchased, and which was one of the best of the 
five that we saw, is sixteen feet eleven inches in length, and its extreme 
breadth two feet one inch and a half; two feet of its fore-end are out of 
the water when floating. It differs from the canoe of Greenland, in being 
somewhat lower at each end, and also in having a higher rhn or gun-wale, 
as it may be termed, round the circular hole where the man sits, which 
may make them somewhat safer at sea. Their construction is, in other 
respects, much the same ; the timbers, or ribs, which are five or six 
inches apart, as well as the fore and aft connecting pieces being of whale- 
bone or drift-wood, and the skins with which they were covered, those of 
the seal and walrus. When the canoes are taken on shore, they are carefully 
placed on two upright piles or pillars of stones, four feet high from the 
ground, in order to allow the air to pass under to dry them, and prevent 
their rotting. The paddle is double and made of fir, the edges of the blade 
being covered with hard bone to secure them from wearing. 
The spears or darts which they use in killing seals and other sea animals, 
consist, like the harpoons of our fishermen^ of two parts, a staff, and the 
spear itself ; the former is usually of wood, when so scarce and valuable a 
commodity can be obtained, from three and a half to five feet in length, and 
the latter of bone, about eighteen inches long, sometimes tipped with iron, 
but more commonly ground to a blunt point at one end, while the other fits 
into a socket in the staff, to which it is firmly secured by thongs. The lines 
which they attach to their spears are very neatly cut out of seal-skins, and 
when in a state of preparation, are left to stretch till dry, between the tents, 
and then made up into coils for use. They make use of a bladder fastened 
to the end of the line, in the same manner as the other Esquimaux. Besides 
the spears, we purchased an instrument having a rude hook of iron let into a 
piece of bone, and secured by -thongs to a staff, the hook being sharply 
pointed, but not barbed. While we were on the island (to which I had 
applied the name of Observation Island), it happened that a small bird flew 
near us, when one of the Esquimaux made the sign of shooting it with a 
bow and arrow, in a manner which could not be misunderstood. It is re- 
markable, therefore, that we could not find about their tents any of these 
