NORTH 
nearer, having nothing in their hands but the whips with 
which they guide their dogs ; and, after fatisfying them¬ 
felves that the canal w’as impaffable, one of them in par¬ 
ticular feerned to acquire confidence. Shouts, words, and 
geftures, were exchanged for fome time to no purpofe, 
though each party feerned in fome degree to recognize 
each other’s language. Sackhoufe, after a time, thought 
he could dilcover that they fpoke the Humooke dialed, 
drawling out their words however to an unufual length. 
He immediately adopted that dialed ; and, holding up the 
prefents, called out to them “Come on!” to which 
they anfwered, Naakrie, naakrieai-plaite; “No, no—go 
away ;” and other words which he made out to mean that 
they hoped we were not come to deftroy them. The 
boldeft then approached to the edge of the canal, and, 
drawing from his boot a knife, repeated, “ Go away ; I 
can kill you.” Sackhoufe, not intimidated, told them 
he was alfo a man and a friend, and at the fame time 
threw acrofs the canal fome fixings of beads and a che¬ 
quered fhirt; but thefe they beheld with great diftruft 
and apprehenfion, ftill calling, “ Go away, don’t kill us.” 
Sackhoufe now threw them an Englilh knife, laying, 
“Take that.” On this they approached with caution, 
picked up the knife, then Ihouted and pulled their nofes; 
thefe actions were imitated by Sackhoufe, who in return 
called out “Heigh, yaw!" pulling his nofe with the 
fame gefture. They now pointed to the fiiirt, demanded 
what it was, and, when told it was an article of clothing, 
afked of what Ikin it was made. Sackhoufe replied, it 
was made of the hair of an animal which they had never 
feen ; on which they picked it up with exprelficns of fur- 
prife. They now began to alk many queftions; for by 
this time they found the language fpoken by themfelves 
and Sackhoufe had fufficient refemblance to enable them 
to hold fome converfation. 
They firfi pointed to the fhips, eagerly alking, “ What 
great creatures are thofe ? Do they come from the fun 
or the moon ? Do they give us light by night or by day ?” 
Sackhoufe told them that he was a man, that he had a 
father and mother like themfelves; and, pointing to the 
fouth, faid that he came from a diftant country in that 
direction. To this they anfwered, “That cannot be; 
there is nothing but ice there.” They again alked 
“ What creatures thefe were ?” pointing to the Ihips ; to 
which Sackhoufe replied, that “ they were houfes made 
of wood.” This they feerned ftill to diferedit, anfwering, 
“ No, they are alive, w’e have feen them move their wings.” 
Sackhoule now enquired of them* what they themfelves 
were; to which they replied, that they were men, and 
lived in that direction, pointing to the north; that there 
was much water there, and that they had come here to fifh 
for fea-unicorns. It was then agreed that Sackhoufe 
fiiould pal's the chafm to them ; and he accordingly re¬ 
turned to the Ihip to make his report, and to alk for a 
plank. 
During the whole of this converfation the Efquimaux 
exhibited the utmoft terror and amazement; and, when 
the men were fent back with Sackhoufe with a plank to 
enable them to crofs the canal, they begged that Sack- 
houfe alone would come over ; which done, they begged 
that he would not touch them, if he did they Ihould cer¬ 
tainly die: at length one of them who had Ihown moft 
courage ventured to touch his hand; then, pulling him- 
felf by the nofe, fet up a Ihout, in which Sackhoufe and 
the other three joined ; the prefents, confifting of a few 
articles of clothing and a few firings of beads, were dif- 
tributed among them ; and Sackhoule changed a knife with 
them for one of theirs. Captain Rofs and Lieut. Parry, 
having provided themfelves with looking-glalfes and 
knives, went to the natives to endeavour to get them on¬ 
board the Ihips. Their arrival produced confiderable 
alarm ; but, on their pulling their nofes, which Sackhoufe 
had afeertained was the mode of friendly falutation with 
them, tire fears of the natives vanilhed. The impreftion 
made by the feeing their faces in a looking-glafs was lo 
POLE. 203 
ludicrous, that Sackhoufe made a drawing of it, a corred 
copy of which is given by Capt. Rofs. At length they 
accompanied the officers to the Ihip, approaching which 
they manifefted great terror; and one of them, examin¬ 
ing every part with fear and aftonilhment, cried out in a 
loud tone “ Who are you ? what are you ? where do you 
come from ? is it fromfthe fun or the moon ?” paufing 
between every queftion, and pulling his nofe with the 
utmoft folemnity. On coming on-board their furprife 
was not a little increafed ; and fhouts, halloos, and laugh¬ 
ters, fucceeded each other; they leemed to have no know¬ 
ledge of timber, as two or three of them fuccelfively feized 
on the fpare top-maft with the view of carrying it off, as 
they wiffied to do with every thing that came in their 
way : one attempted to fteal the anvil, and another ac¬ 
tually ran away with a (ledge-hammer, while a third watched 
the opportunity of getting into the cabin, and feizing 
Capt. Rofs’s belt telefcope and a cafe of razors. 
Among other amulements afforded to the officers and 
men on-board, by their trials on the inexperience of the 
natives, was the effed produced on them by feeing their 
faces in a magnifying mirror. Their grimaces were 
highly entertaining, while, like monkeys, they looked 
firfi into it, and then behind, in hopes of finding the 
monfter which was exaggerating their hideous geftures. 
A watch was alfo held to the ear of one, who, fuppofing it 
aiive, afked if it was good to eat. On being ihown the 
glafs of the fkylight and binnacle, they touched it, and 
defired to know what kind of ice it was. During this 
feene, one of them wandered to the main hatchway, and, 
{looping down, faw the fergeant of marines, whole red coat 
produced a loud exclamation of wonder, while his o,wn 
attitude and figure did not lefs excite the furprife of our 
tars, who, for the firfi time, difeovered fome unexpected 
peculiarities in the drefs of the natives. Their frocks, 
or jackets, were indeed cut differently from thofe of the 
fouthward, they being provided with a flap before and 
behind, fo as to refemble the jackets of the women in 
Jacob’s Bight. Their breeches, if what they wore can be 
laid to delerve that name, w'ere alfo different from thofe 
we had feen before ; they were certainlyjfmaW clothes ; for 
they came no higher than the upper part of the thigh,, 
the reft being covered by the flaps of the jacket, which, 
when they (looped to pick up any thing, left their pofte- 
riors expofed. 
They appeared to be altogether in a date of nature ; 
and, fo perfectly ignorant were they of whatever belongs 
to every part of the globe, except that which they inhabit, 
that they coniidered the countries which lie to the fouth¬ 
ward to be lei's fit for men to inhabit than their own, from 
the quantity of fnow and ice, which they faid they could 
never pafs, always to be feen in that direction. But their 
knowledge of the country is very limited ; they are wholly 
unacquainted with the interior ; it affords them no means 
of fubfiftence; and, having no other mode of travelling 
than in fledges, their journeys are neceffarily confined to 
the flat ice on the lea in the neighbourhood of the Ihorc., 
When this is melted in the fummer, their communications 
are impeded. Thofe whom we faw told us that they could 
not return to their winter-refidence until it Ihould be dark ; 
or, in other words, until the winter had fet in and re-ella- 
blilhed their roads. Their lcnowdedge of the country to 
the fouthward is bounded by a range of mountains covered 
with fnow, which ends abruptly in the fea at the angle 
where the coaft alfumes a wefterly direClion, and is pro¬ 
bably connected at the other extremity with the great 
central ridge which divides Greenland from north to 
fouth. Thefe mountains they coniidered the limit of the 
habitable world to the fouth, fuppofing that all beyond 
was ice and fnow. Towards the north, on the contrary, 
they told us the country was black land, that is, free from 
fnow, and the water clear of ice during the fummer as far 
as they were acquainted with it; this appeared to be 
about as much to the north of the place where they pafs 
the winter as they were now to the fouth of it, perhaps. 
about; 
