RECEPTION AT ANOATOK. 
373 
bearing on his interests. Both our men had been his 
jailers on board the brig, and he was the first person 
they met as they came upon the village. 
“ But Avhen he found, by McGary’s expressive panto¬ 
mime, that the visit was not specially to him, and that 
the first appeal was to his hospitality and his fellows’, 
his entire demeanor underwent a change. He seemed 
to take a new character, as if, said Morton, he had 
dropped a mask. He gave them welcome with un¬ 
mixed cordiality, carried them to his hut, cleared away 
the end farthest from the opening for their reception, 
and filled up the fire of moss and blubber. 
“The others joined him, and the attention of the 
whole settlement was directed at once to the wants of 
the visitors. Their wet boots were turned toward the 
fire, their woollen socks wrung out and placed on a 
heated stone, dry grass was padded round their feet, 
and the choicest cuts of walrus-liver were put into the 
cooking-pot. Whatever might be the infirmity of their 
notions of honesty, it was plain that we had no lessons 
to give then! in the virtues of hospitable welcome. 
Indeed, there was a frankness and cordiality in the 
mode of receiving their guests, that explained the un¬ 
reserve and conscious security which they showed 
when they first visited us. 
“I could hardly guess at that time, when we saw 
them practising antics and grimaces among the rocks, 
what was the meaning of their harlequin gestures, and 
how they could venture afterward so fearlessly on 
board. I have understood the riddle since. It was a 
