LAST VOYAGE OF CAPT. ROSS. 
197 
of the officers, that his design was to impose upon them, and 
Tullooachiu was strictly examined as to the superior knowledge 
which his companion was supposed to possess respecting the 
state of the sea to the westward, and how it had come to pass 
that he should be the only person of their tribe, who was able 
to give an accurate report of the adjacent coasts. Tullooachiu 
gave a confused and blundering account of the manner in which 
the knowledge was obtained, but in one respect he said he 
could be borne out by the whole of the tribe, that his companion 
was known to be the most bold and persevering hunter amongst 
them, and that he had penetrated in his hunting excursions fur¬ 
ther westward than any of them. This was in some respects a 
very plausible account of the source from which the greater know¬ 
ledge had been obtained, and Commander Ross determined to 
try the experiment of purchasing the information from this inte¬ 
rested native, and accordingly made him a present of two canis¬ 
ters and a fish-hook ; but it was at once evident that the cunning 
savage did not consider the presents to be in any degree equiva¬ 
lent to the information which he had to give, and seeing a 
telescope of Capt. Ross’ lying on a table at the further end 
of the cabin, he very deliberately walked towards the table, 
took possession of the instrument, and with the greatest sang¬ 
froid proceeded to deposit it in his pouch. He was however soon 
constrained to restore the property to its rightful owner, but 
it excited his indignation to that degree, that he left the 
cabin in high dudgeon, and soon after took his departure from 
the ship, using the most violent gestures towards Tullooachiu, 
and apparently rebuking him in the most opprobrious terms. 
It was subsequently discovered that the opinion which the officers 
had formed respecting this man were founded in truth, and that 
he was one of the greatest cheats and impostors amongst the 
tribe. 
It must however be remarked that fraud and imposition had 
been a part of the education of this man. The Angekok or con¬ 
juror of the tribe was an infirm personage, not exactly grown 
grey, but grown very old in practising upon the credulity and 
ignorance of his tribe, and as his decease was an event not far 
