Departure from Winter Island.--Meet with some Esquimaux travelling
to the Northward.--Obstruction and Danger from the Ice and
Tides.--Discovery of the Barrow River, and its Fall.--Favourable
Passage to the Northward.--Arrival off the Strait of the Fury and
Hecla.--Progress opposed by a fixed barrier of Ice.--Communicate
with the Natives of Igloolik.--Unsuccessful Attempt to get between
the Ice and the Land--Land upon the Calthorpe Islands.--The Fury
drifted by the Ice between two Islands.--Account of a Journey
performed in Sledges up an Inlet to the westward.
The gale, which had for some time been blowing from the northward,
veered to the N.W.b.W., and increased in strength on the 1st of July,
which soon began to produce the effect of drifting the ice off the land.
At six o'clock on the 2d, the report from the hill being favourable, and
the wind and weather now also sufficiently so, we moved out of our
winter's dock, which was, indeed, in part broken to pieces by the swell
that had lately set into the bay. At seven we made sail, with a fresh
breeze from W.N.W., and having cleared the rocks at the entrance of the
bay, ran quickly to the northward and eastward. The ice in the offing
was of the "hummocky" kind, and drifting rapidly about with the tides,
leaving us a navigable channel varying in width from two miles to three
or four hundred yards.
The closeness of the ice again obliging us to make fast on the 3d, we
soon after perceived a party of people with a sledge upon the land-floe.
I therefore sent Mr. Bushnan, with some of our men, to meet them and to
bring them on board, being desirous of ascertaining whereabout,
according to their geography, we now were. We found the party to
consist, as we expected, of those who had taken leave of us forty days
before on their departure to the northward, and who now readily
accompanied our people to the ships; leaving only Togolat's idiot-boy by
the sledge, tying him to a dog and the dog to the ice. As soon as they
came under the bows, they halted in a line, and, according to their
former promise, gave three cheers, which salutation a few of us on the
forecastle did not fail to return. As soon as they got on board they
expressed extreme joy at seeing us again, repeated each of our names
with great earnestness, and were, indeed, much gratified by this
unexpected encounter. Ewerat being now mounted on the plank which goes
across the gunwales of our ships for conning them conveniently among the
ice, explained, in a very clear and pilot-like manner, that the island
which we observed to lie off Cape Wilson was that marked by Iligliuk in
one of her charts, and there called _Awlikteewik_, pronounced by Ewerat
_Ow-l=itt~ee-week_. On asking how many days' journey it was still to
Amitioke, they all agreed in saying ten; and back to Winter Island
_oon=o=oktoot_ (a great many), so that we had good reason to hope we
were not far from the former place. I may at once remark, however, that
great caution is requisite in judging of the information these people
give of the distances from one place to another, as expressed by the
number of _se=eniks_ (sleeps) or days' journeys, to which, in other
countries, a definite value is affixed. No two Esquimaux will give the
same account in this respect, though each is equally desirous of
furnishing correct information; for, besides their deficiency as
arithmeticians, which renders the enumeration of ten a labour, and of
fifteen almost an impossibility to many of them, each individual forms
his idea of the distance according to the season of the year, and,
consequently, the mode of travelling in which his own journey has been
performed. Instances of this kind will be observed in the charts of the
Esquimaux, in which they not only differ from each other in this
respect, but the same individual differs from himself at different
times. It is only, therefore, by a careful comparison of the various
accounts, and by making allowances for the different circumstances under
which the journeys have been made, that these apparent inconsistencies
can be reconciled, and an approximation to the truth obtained.
Many of our officers and men cordially greeted these poor people as old
acquaintances they were glad to see again, and they were loaded, as
usual, with numerous presents, of which the only danger to be
apprehended was lest they should go mad on account of them. The women
screamed in a convulsive manner at everything they received, and cried
for five minutes together with the excess of their joy; and to the
honour of "John Bull" be it recorded, he sent by one of the men as he
left the ship a piece of sealskin, as a present to _Parree_, being the
first offering of real gratitude, and without any expectation of return,
that I had ever received from any of them. I never saw them express more
surprise than on being assured that we had left Winter Island only a
single day; a circumstance which might well excite their wonder,
considering that they had themselves been above forty in reaching our
present station. They had obtained one reindeer, and had now a large
seal on their sledge, to which we added a quantity of bread-dust, that
seemed acceptable enough to them. As our way lay in the same direction
as theirs, I would gladly have taken their whole establishment on board
the ships to convey them to Amitioke, but for the uncertain nature of
this navigation, which might eventually have put it out of my power to
land them at the precise place of their destination. The ice again
opening, we were now obliged to dismiss them, after half an hour's
visit, when, having run to the Hecla's bows to see Captain Lyon and his
people, they returned to their sledge as fast as their loads of presents
would allow them.
We continued our progress northward, contending with the flood-tide and
the drifting masses of ice; and the difficulties of such a navigation
may be conceived from the following description of what happened to us
on the 9th.
At half past eight on the morning of the 9th, a considerable space of
open water being left to the northward of us by the ice that had broken
off the preceding night, I left the Fury in a boat for the purpose of
sounding along the shore in that direction, in readiness for moving
whenever the Hecla should be enabled to rejoin us. I found the soundings
regular in almost every part, and had just landed to obtain a view from
an eminence, when I was recalled by a signal from the Fury, appointed to
inform me of the approach of any ice. On my return, I found the external
body once more in rapid motion to the southward with the flood-tide, and
assuming its usual threatening appearance. For an hour or two the Fury
was continually grazed, and sometimes heeled over by a degree of
pressure which, under any other circumstances, would not have been
considered a moderate one, but which the last two or three days'
navigation had taught us to disregard, when compared with what we had
reason almost every moment to expect. A little before noon a heavy floe,
some miles in length, being probably a part of that lately detached from
the shore, came driving down fast towards us, giving us serious reason
to apprehend some more fatal catastrophe than any we had yet
encountered. In a few minutes it came in contact, at the rate of a mile
and a half an hour, with a point of the land-ice left the preceding
night by its own separation, breaking it up with a tremendous crash, and
forcing numberless immense masses, perhaps many tons in weight, to the
height of fifty or sixty feet, from whence they again rolled down on the
inner or land side, and were quickly succeeded by a fresh supply. While
we were obliged to be quiet spectators of this grand but terrific
sight, being within five or six hundred yards of the point, the danger
to ourselves was twofold; first, lest the floe should now swing in, and
serve us much in the same manner; and, secondly, lest its pressure
should detach the land-ice to which we were secured, and thus set us
adrift and at the mercy of the tides. Happily, however, neither of these
occurred, the floe remaining stationary for the rest of the tide, and
setting off with the ebb which made soon after. In the mean while the
Hecla had been enabled to get under sail, and was making considerable
progress towards us, which determined me to move the Fury as soon as
possible from her present situation into the bight I had sounded in the
morning, where we made fast in five and a half fathoms alongside some
very heavy grounded ice, one third of a mile from a point of land lying
next to the northward of Cape Wilson, and which is low for a short
distance next the sea. At nine o'clock a large mass of ice fell off the
land-floe and struck our stern; and a "calf" lying under it, having lost
its superincumbent weight, rose to the surface with considerable force,
lifting our rudder violently in its passage, but doing no material
injury.
On the 12th, observing an opening in the land like a river, I left the
ship in a boat to examine the soundings of the coast. On approaching the
opening, we found so strong a current setting out of it as to induce me
to taste the water, which proved scarcely brackish; and a little closer
in, perfectly fresh, though the depth was from fourteen to fifteen
fathoms. As this stream was a sufficient security against any ice coming
in, I determined to anchor the ships somewhere in its neighbourhood;
and, having laid down a buoy in twelve fathoms, off the north point of
the entrance, returned on board, when I found all the boats ahead
endeavouring to tow the ships in-shore. This could be effected, however,
only by getting them across the stream of the inlet to the northern
shore; and here, finding some land-ice, the ships were secured late at
night, after several hours of extreme labour to the people in the boats.
On the morning of the 13th, the ice being still close in with the land
just to the northward of us, I determined on examining the supposed
river in the boats, and, at the same time, to try our luck with the
seines, as the place appeared a likely one for salmon. Immediately on
opening the inlet we encountered a rapid current setting outward, and,
after rowing a mile and a half to the N.W.b.W., the breadth of the
stream varying from one third of a mile to four or five hundred yards,
came to some shoal water extending quite across. Landing on the south
shore and hauling the boats up above high-water mark, we rambled up the
banks of the stream, which are low next the water, but rise almost
immediately to the height of about two hundred feet. As we proceeded we
gradually heard the noise of a fall of water; and being presently
obliged to strike more inland, as the bank became more precipitous, soon
obtained a fresh view of the stream running on a much higher level than
before, and dashing with great impetuosity down two small cataracts.
Just below this, however, where the river turns almost at a right angle,
we perceived a much greater spray, as well as a louder sound; and,
having walked a short distance down the bank, suddenly came upon the
principal fall, of whose magnificence I am at a loss to give any
adequate description. At the head of the fall, or where it commences its
principal descent, the river is contracted to about one hundred and
fifty feet in breadth, the channel being hollowed out through a solid
rock of gneiss.
After falling about fifteen feet at angle of 30° with a vertical line,
the width of the stream is still narrowed to about forty yards, and
then, as if mustering its whole force previous to its final descent, is
precipitated, in one vast, continuous sheet of water, almost
perpendicular for ninety feet more. The dashing of the water from such a
height produced the usual accompaniment of a cloud of spray broad
columns of which were constantly forced up like the successive rushes of
smoke from a vast furnace, and on this, near the top, a vivid _iris_ or
rainbow was occasionally formed by the bright rays of an unclouded sun.
The basin that receives the water at the foot of the fall is nearly of a
circular form, and about four hundred yards in diameter, being rather
wider than the river immediately below it.
After remaining nearly an hour, fixed, as it were, to the spot by the
novelty and magnificence of the scene before us, we continued our walk
upward along the banks; and after passing the two smaller cataracts,
found the river again increased in width to above two hundred yards,
winding in the most romantic manner imaginable among the hills, and
preserving, a smooth and unruffled surface for a distance of three or
four miles that we traced it to the southwest above the fall. What
added extremely to the beauty of this picturesque river, which Captain
Lyon and myself named after our friend Mr. BARROW, Secretary to the
Admiralty, was the richness of the vegetation on its banks, the
enlivening brilliancy of a cloudless sky, and the animation given to the
scene by several reindeer that were grazing beside the stream. Our
sportsmen were fortunate in obtaining four of these animals; but we had
no success with the seines, the ground proving altogether too rocky to
use them with advantage or safety. We returned on board at thirty
minutes past two P.M., after the most gratifying visit we had ever paid
to the shore in these regions.
We found on our return that a fresh, southerly breeze, which had been
blowing for several hours, had driven the ice to some distance from the
land; so that at four P.M., as soon as the flood-tide had slackened, we
cast off and made all possible sail to the northward, steering for a
headland, remarkable for having a patch of land towards the sea, that
appeared insular in sailing along shore. As we approached this headland,
which I named after my friend Mr. PENRHYN, the prospect became more and
more enlivening; for the sea was found to be navigable in a degree very
seldom experienced in these regions, and, the land trending two or three
points to the westward of north, gave us reason to hope we should now be
enabled to take a decided and final turn in that anxiously desired
direction. As we rounded Cape Penrhyn at seven P.M., we began gradually
to lose sight of the external body of ice, sailing close along that
which was still attached in very heavy floes to this part of the coast.
Both wind and tide being favourable, our progress was rapid, and
unobstructed, and nothing could exceed the interest and delight with
which so unusual an event was hailed by us. Before midnight the wind
came more off the land, and then became light and variable, after which
it settled in the northwest, with thick weather for several hours.
In the course of this day the walruses became more and more numerous
every hour, lying in large herds upon the loose pieces of drift-ice; and
it having fallen calm at one P.M., we despatched our boats to kill some
for the sake of the oil which they afford. On approaching the ice, our
people found them huddled close to, and even lying upon, one another, in
separate droves of from twelve to thirty, the whole number near the
boats being perhaps about two hundred..Most of them waited quietly to be
fired at: and even after one or two discharges did not seem to be
greatly disturbed, but allowed the people to land on the ice near them,
and, when approached, showed an evident disposition to give battle.
After they had got into the water, three were struck with harpoons and
killed from the boats. When first wounded they became quite furious, and
one, which had been struck from Captain Lyon's boat, made a resolute
attack upon her and injured several of the planks with its enormous
tusks. A number of the others came round them, also repeatedly striking
the wounded animals with their tusks, with the intention either of
getting them away, or else of joining in the attack upon them. Many of
these animals had young ones, which, when assaulted, they either took
between their fore-flippers to carry off, or bore away on their backs.
Both of those killed by the Fury's boats were females, and the weight of
the largest was fifteen hundred and two quarters nearly; but it was by
no means remarkable for the largeness of its dimensions. The peculiar
barking noise made by the walrus when irritated, may be heard, on a calm
day, with great distinctness at the distance of two miles at least. We
found musket-balls the most certain and expeditious way of despatching
them after they had been once struck with the harpoon, the thickness of
their skin being such that whale-lances generally bend without
penetrating it. One of these creatures being accidentally touched by one
of the oars in Lieutenant Nias's boat, took hold of it between its
flippers, and, forcibly twisting it out of the man's hand, snapped it in
two. They produced us very little oil, the blubber being thin and poor
at this season, but were welcomed in a way that had not been
anticipated; for some quarters of this "marine beef," as Captain Cook
has called it, being hung up for steaks, the meat was not only eaten,
but eagerly sought after on this and every other occasion throughout the
voyage, by all those among us who could overcome the prejudice arising
chiefly from the dark colour of the flesh. In no other respect that I
could ever discover, is the meat of the walrus, when fresh-killed, in
the slightest degree unpalatable. The heart and liver are indeed
excellent.
After an unobstructed night's run, during which we met with no ice
except in some loose "streams," the water became so much shoaler as to
make it necessary to proceed with greater caution. About this time,
also, a great deal of high land came in sight to the northward and
eastward, which, on the first inspection of the Esquimaux charts, we
took to be the large portion of land called _Ke=iyuk-tar-ruoke_,[001]
between which and the continent the promised strait lay that was to lead
us to the westward. So far all was satisfactory; but, after sailing a
few miles farther, it is impossible to describe our disappointment and
mortification in perceiving an unbroken sheet of ice extending
completely across the supposed passage from one land to the other. This
consisted of a floe so level and continuous, that a single glance was
sufficient to assure us of the disagreeable fact, that it was the ice
formed in its present situation during the winter, and still firmly
attached to the land on every side. It was certain, from its continuous
appearance for some miles that we ran along its edge, that it had
suffered no disruption this season, which circumstance involved the
necessity of our awaiting that operation, which nature seemed scarcely
yet to have commenced in this neighbourhood, before we could hope to
sail round the northeastern point of the American continent.
At thirty minutes past nine A.M. we observed several tents on the low
shore immediately abreast of us, and presently afterward five canoes
made their appearance at the edge of the land-ice intervening between us
and the beach. We soon found, by the cautious manner in which the canoes
approached us, that our Winter Island friends had not yet reached this
neighbourhood. In a few minutes after we had joined them, however, a few
presents served to dissipate all their apprehensions, if, indeed, people
could be said to entertain any who thus fearlessly met us half way; and
we immediately persuaded them to turn back with us to the shore. Being
under sail in the boat, with a fresh breeze, we took two of the canoes
in tow, and dragged them along at a great rate, much to the satisfaction
of the Esquimaux, who were very assiduous in piloting us to the best
landing-place upon the ice, where we were met by several of their
companions and conducted to the tents. Before we had reached the shore,
however, we had obtained one very interesting piece of information,
namely, that it was Igloolik on which we were now about to land, and
that we must therefore have made a very near approach to the strait
which, as we hoped, was to conduct us once more into the Polar Sea.
We found here two divisions of tents, there being eleven where we
landed, and five more about half a mile to the northward. By the time we
reached the tents we were surrounded by a crowd of men, women, and
children, all carrying some trifling article, which they offered in
barter, a business they seemed to understand as well, and to need much
more than their countrymen to the southward. We were, of course, not
backward in promoting a good understanding by means of such presents as
we had brought with us, but they seemed to have no idea of our giving
them anything _gratis_, always offering some trifle in exchange, and
expressing hesitation and surprise when we declined accepting it. This
was not to be wondered at among people who scarcely know what a free
gift is among themselves; but they were not long in getting rid of all
delicacy or hesitation on this score.
The tents, which varied in size according to the number of occupants,
consisted of several seal and walrus skins, the former dressed without
the hair, and the latter with the thick outer coat taken off, and the
rest shaved thin, so as to allow of the transmission of light through
it. These were put together in a clumsy and irregular patchwork, forming
a sort of bag of a shape rather oval than round, and supported near the
middle by a rude tent-pole composed of several deer's horns or the bones
of other animals lashed together. At the upper end of this is attached
another short piece of bone at right angles, for the purpose of
extending the skins a little at the top, which is generally from six to
seven feet from the ground. The lower part of the tent-pole rests on a
large stone, to keep it from sinking into the ground, and, being no way
secured, is frequently knocked down by persons accidentally coming
against it, and again replaced upon the stone. The lower borders of the
skins are held down by stones laid on them outside; and, to keep the
whole fabric in an erect position, a line of thong is extended from the
top, on the side where the door is, to a larger stone placed at some
distance. The door consists merely of two flaps, contrived so as to
overlap one another, and to be secured by a stone laid upon them at the
bottom. This entrance faces the south or southeast; and as the wind was
now blowing fresh from that quarter, and thick snow beginning to fall,
these habitations did not impress us at first sight with a very
favourable idea of the comfort and accommodation afforded by them. The
interior of the tents may be described in few words. On one side of the
end next the door is the usual stone lamp, resting on rough stones, with
the _ootkooseek_, or cooking pot, suspended over it; and round this are
huddled together, in great confusion, the rest of the women's utensils,
together with great lumps of raw seahorse flesh and blubber, which at
this season they enjoyed in most disgusting abundance. At the inner end
of the tent, which is also the broadest, and occupying about one third
of the whole apartment, their skins are laid as a bed, having under them
some of the _andromeda tetragona_ when the ground is hard, but in this
case placed on the bare dry shingle. Comfortless as these simple
habitations appeared to us in a snowstorm, they are, in general, not
deficient in warmth as summer residences; and, being easily removed from
place to place, they are certainly well suited to the wants and habits
of this wandering people. When a larger habitation than usual is
required, they contrive, by putting two of these together, to form a
sort of double tent somewhat resembling a marquee, and supported by two
poles. The difference between these tents and the one I had seen in Lyon
Inlet the preceding autumn, struck me as remarkable, these having no
_wall_ of stones around them, as is usual in many that we have before
met with, nor do I know their reason for adopting this different mode of
construction.
Even if it were not the natural and happy disposition of these people to
be pleased, and to place implicit confidence wherever kind treatment is
experienced, that confidence would soon have been ensured by our
knowledge of their friends and relations to the southward, and the
information which we were enabled to give respecting their late and
intended movements. This, while it excited in them extreme surprise,
served also at once to remove all distrust or apprehension, so that we
soon found ourselves on the best terms imaginable. In return for all
this interesting information, they gave us the names of the different
portions of land in sight, many of which being recognised in their
countrymen's charts, we no longer entertained a doubt of our being near
the entrance of the strait to which all our hopes were directed. We now
found also that a point of land in sight, a few miles to the southward
of the tents, was near that marked _Ping-=it-k~a-l~ik_ on Ewerat's
chart, and that, therefore, the low shore along which we had been
constantly sailing the preceding night was certainly a part of the
continent.
By the time we had distributed most of our presents, and told some long
stories about Winter Island, to all which they listened with eager
delight and interest, we found the weather becoming so inclement as to
determine us to make the best of our way on board, and to take a more
favourable opportunity of renewing our visit to the Esquimaux. After
pulling out for an hour and a half, Captain Lyon, who had a boat's crew
composed of officers, and had, unfortunately, broken one of his oars,
was under the necessity of returning to the shore. My anxiety lest the
ships should be ventured too near the shore, from a desire to pick up
the boats, induced me to persevere an hour longer, when the wind having
increased to a gale, which prevented our hearing any of the guns, I
reluctantly bore up for our former landing-place. Captain Lyon and his
party having quartered themselves at the southern tents, we took up our
lodgings at the others, to which we were welcomed in the kindest and
most hospitable manner. That we might incommode the Esquimaux as little
as possible, we divided into parties of two in each tent, though they
would willingly have accommodated twice that number. Immediately on our
arrival they offered us dry boots, and it was not long before we were
entirely "rigged out" in their dresses, which, thoroughly drenched as we
were by the sea, proved no small comfort to us. With these, and a
sealskin or two as a blanket, we kept ourselves tolerably warm during a
most inclement night; and the tents, which but a few hours before we had
looked upon as the most comfortless habitations imaginable, now afforded
us a sufficient and most acceptable shelter.
The evening was passed in dealing out our information from the
southward, and never did any arrival excite more anxious inquiries than
those we were now obliged to answer. So intimate was the knowledge we
possessed respecting many of their relationships, that, by the help of a
memorandum-book in which these had been inserted, I believe we almost at
times excited a degree of superstitious alarm in their minds. This sort
of gossip, and incessant chattering and laughing, continued till near
midnight, when the numerous visitors in our tents began to retire to
their own and to leave us to our repose. Awaking at four A.M. on the
17th, I found that the weather had moderated and cleared up, and the
ships soon after appearing in sight, we called our boat's crew up, and
sent one of the Esquimaux round to the other tents to inform Captain
Lyon of our setting out. Several of the natives accompanied us to our
boat, which they cheerfully helped us to launch, and then went round to
another part of the beach for their own canoes. A thick fog had come on
before this time, notwithstanding which, however, we managed to find the
ships, and got on board by seven o'clock. Five canoes arrived soon
after, and the wind being now light and variable, we lay-to for an hour
to repay our kind friends for the hospitable reception they had given
us. After supplying them abundantly with tin canisters, knives, and
pieces of iron hoop, we hauled to the northeastward to continue our
examination of the state of the ice, in hopes of finding that the late
gale had in this respect done us some service.
Finding that a farther examination of the eastern lands could not at
present be carried on, without incurring the risk of hampering the ships
at a time when, for aught that we knew, the ice might be breaking up at
the entrance of the strait, we stood back to the westward, and, having
fetched near the middle of Igloolik, were gratified in observing that a
large "patch" of the fixed ice[002] had broken off and drifted out of
sight during our absence. At nine A.M. we saw eleven canoes coming off
from the shore, our distance from the tents being about four miles. We
now hoisted two of them on board, their owners K=a-k~ee and
N~u-y=ak-k~a being very well pleased with the expedient, to avoid
damaging them alongside. Above an hour was occupied in endeavouring to
gain additional information respecting the land to the westward, and the
time when we might expect the ice to break up in the strait, after which
we dismissed them with various useful presents, the atmosphere becoming
extremely thick with snow, and threatening a repetition of the same
inclement weather as we had lately experienced.
On the 23d we went on shore to pay another visit to the Esquimaux, who
came down on the ice in great numbers to receive us, repeatedly stroking
down the front of their jackets with the palm of the hand as they
advanced, a custom not before mentioned, as we had some doubt about it
at Winter Island, and which they soon discontinued here. They also
frequently called out _tima_, a word which, according to Hearne,
signifies in the Esquimaux language, "What cheer!" and which Captain
Franklin heard frequently used on first accosting the natives at the
mouth of the Coppermine River. It seems to be among these people a
salutation equivalent to that understood by these travellers, or at
least some equally civil and friendly one, for nothing could exceed the
attention which they paid us on landing. Some individual always attached
himself to each of us immediately on our leaving the boat, pointing out
the best road, and taking us by the hand or arm to help us over the
streams of water or fissures in the ice, and attending us wherever we
went during our stay on shore. The day proving extremely fine and
pleasant, everything assumed a different appearance from that at our
former visit, and we passed some hours on shore very agreeably. About
half a mile inland of the tents, and situated upon the rising ground
beyond the swamps and ponds before mentioned, we found the ruins of
several winter habitations, which, upon land so low as Igloolik, formed
very conspicuous objects at the distance of several miles to seaward.
These were of the same circular and dome-like form as the snow-huts, but
built with much more durable materials, the lower part or foundation
being of stones, and the rest of the various bones of the whale and
walrus, gradually inclining inward and meeting at the top. The crevices,
as well as the whole of the outside, were then covered with turf, which,
with the additional coating of snow in the winter, serves to exclude the
cold air very effectually. The entrance is towards the south, and
consists of a passage ten feet long, and not more than two in height and
breadth, built of flat slabs of stone, having the same external covering
as that of the huts. The beds are raised by stones two feet from the
ground, and occupy about one third of the apartment at the inner end;
and the windows and a part of the roofs had been taken away for the
convenience of removing their furniture in the spring. It was a natural
inference, from the nature of these habitations, that these people, or
at least a portion of them, were constant residents on this spot, which,
indeed, seemed admirably calculated to afford in luxurious profusion all
that constitutes Esquimaux felicity. This, however, did not afterward
prove to be absolutely the case; for though Igloolik (as perhaps the
name may imply) is certainly one of their principal and favourite
rendezvous, yet we subsequently found the inland entirely deserted by
them at the same season.
In every direction around the huts were lying innumerable bones of
walruses and seals, together with sculls of dogs, bears, and foxes, on
many of which a part of the putrid flesh still remaining sent forth the
most offensive effluvia. We were not a little surprised to find also a
number of human sculls lying about among the rest, within a few yards of
the huts; and were somewhat inclined to be out of humour on this account
with our new friends, who not only treated the matter with the utmost
indifference, but, on observing that we were inclined to add some of
them to our collections, went eagerly about to look for them, and
tumbled, perhaps, the craniums of some of their own relations into our
bag, without delicacy or remorse. In various other parts of the island
we soon after met with similar relics no better disposed of; but we had
yet to learn how little pains these people take to place their dead out
of the reach of hungry bears or anatomical collectors.
The account we gave of our visit to the shore naturally exciting the
curiosity and interest of those who had not yet landed, and the ice
remaining unchanged on the 24th, a couple of boats were despatched from
each ship, with a large party of the officers and men, while the ships
stood off and on. On the return of the boats in the evening, I found
from Lieutenant Reid that a new family of the natives had arrived to-day
from the main land, bringing with them a quantity of fine salmon and
venison, of which some very acceptable samples were procured for both
ships. Being desirous of following up so agreeable a kind of barter, I
went on shore the next morning for that purpose, but could only procure
a very small quantity of fish from the tent of the new-comer, a
middle-aged, noisy, but remarkably intelligent and energetic man named
_T=o=ol~em~ak_. After some conversation, we found from this man
that, in order to obtain a fresh supply of fish, three days would be
required; this prevented my putting in execution a plan of going out to
the place where the fish were caught, which we at first understood to be
near at hand. We therefore employed all our eloquence in endeavouring to
procure a supply of this kind by means of the Esquimaux themselves, in
which we at length so far succeeded, that Toolemak promised, for certain
valuable considerations of wood and iron, to set out on this errand the
following day.
Shortly, after I returned on board Captain Lyon made the signal "to
communicate with me," for the purpose of offering his services to
accompany our fisherman on his proposed journey, attended by one of the
Hecla's men; to which, in the present unfavourable state of the ice, I
gladly consented, as the most likely means of procuring information of
interest during this our unavoidable detention. Being equipped with a
small tent, blankets, and four days' provision, Captain Lyon left us at
ten P.M., when I made sail to re-examine the margin of the ice.
It blew fresh from the eastward during the night of the 28th, with
continued rain, all which we considered favourable for dissolving and
dislodging the ice, though very comfortless for Captain Lyon on his
excursion. The weather at length clearing up in the afternoon, I
determined on beating to the eastward, to see if any more of the land in
that direction could be made out than the unfavourable position of the
ice would permit at our last visit. The Fury then made sail and stood to
the eastward, encountering the usual strength of tide off the southwest
point of Tangle Island, and soon after a great quantity of heavy
drift-ice, apparently not long detached from some land.
I determined to avoid, if possible, the entanglement of the Fury among
the ice, which now surrounded her on every side, and to stand back to
Igloolik, to hear what information Captain Lyon's journey might have
procured for us.
At the distance of one third of a mile from Tangle Island, where we
immediately gained the open sea beyond, we observed the Hecla standing
towards us, and rejoined her at a quarter before eleven, when Captain
Lyon came on board to communicate the result of his late journey, of
which he furnished me with the following account, accompanied by a
sketch of the lands he had seen, as far as the extremely unfavourable
state of the weather would permit.
"Accompanied by George Dunn, I found Toolemak on landing, who
welcomed us to his tent, in which for two hours it was scarcely
possible to move, in consequence of the crowd who came to gaze at
us. A new deerskin was spread for me, and Dunn having found a corner
for himself, we all lay down to sleep, not, however, until our host,
his wife, their little son, and a dog, had turned in beside me,
under cover of a fine warm skin, all naked except the lady, who,
with the decorum natural to her sex, kept on a part of her clothes.
At ten A.M. we started, and found the sledge on a beach near the
southern ice. Four men were to accompany us on this vehicle, and the
good-natured fellows volunteered to carry our luggage. A second
sledge was under the charge of three boys who had eight dogs, while
our team consisted of eleven. The weather was so thick that at times
we could not see a quarter of a mile before us, but yet went rapidly
forward to the W.N.W., when, after about six hours, we came to a
high, bold land, and a great number of islands of reddish granite,
wild and barren in the extreme. We here found the ice in a very
decayed state, and in many places the holes and fissures were
difficult if not dangerous to pass. At the expiration of eight
hours, our impediments in this respect had increased to such a
degree as to stop our farther progress. Dunn, the old man, and
myself therefore walked over a small island, beyond which we saw a
sheet of water, which precluded any farther advance otherwise than
by boats.
"In the hope that the morning would prove more favourable for our
seeing the land, the only advantage now to be derived from our
visit, since the fishing place was not attainable, it was decided to
pass the night on one of the rocky islands. The Esquimaux having
brought no provisions with them, I distributed our four days'
allowance of meat in equal proportions to the whole party, who
afterward lay down to sleep on the rocks, having merely a piece of
skin to keep the rain from their faces. In this comfortless state
they remained very quietly for eight hours. Our little hunting-tent
just held Dunn and myself, although not in a very convenient manner;
but it answered the purpose of keeping us dry, except from a stream
of water that ran under us all night.
"The morning of the 27th was rather fine for a short time, and we
saw above thirty islands, which I named COXE'S GROUP, varying in
size from one hundred yards to a mile or more in length. Two deer
were observed on the northern land, which was called _Khead-Laghioo_
by the Esquimaux, and Toolemak accompanied Dunn in chase of them. On
crossing to bring over our game, we found the old Esquimaux had
skinned and broken up the deer after his own manner, and my
companions being without food, I divided it into shares.
"Arriving on the ice, a skin was taken from the sledge as a seat,
and we all squatted down to a repast which was quite new to me. In
ten minutes the natives had picked the deer's bones so clean that
even the hungry dogs disdained to gnaw them a second time. Dunn and
myself made our breakfast on a choice slice cut from the spine, and
found it so good, the windpipe in particular, that at dinner-time we
preferred the same food to our share of the preserved meat which we
had saved from the preceding night.
"As we sat I observed the moschetoes to be very numerous, but they
were lying in a half torpid state on the ice, and incapable of
molesting us. Soon after noon we set forward on our return, and,
without seeing any object but the flat and decaying ice, passed from
land to land with our former celerity, dashing through large pools
of water much oftener than was altogether agreeable to men who had
not been dry for above thirty hours, or warm for a still longer
period. Our eleven dogs were large, fine-looking animals, and an old
one of peculiar sagacity was placed at their head by having a longer
trace, so as to lead them over the safest and driest places, for
these animals have a great dread of water. The leader was instant in
obeying the voice of the driver, who did not beat, but repeatedly
talked and called it by name. It was beautiful to observe the
sledges racing to the same object, the dogs and men in full cry, and
the vehicles splashing through the water with the velocity of rival
stage-coaches.
"We were joyfully welcomed to the dwelling of Ooyarra, whose guest I
was now to become, and the place of honour, the deerskin seat, was
cleared for my reception. His two wives, _K~ai-m=o=o-khi~ak_
and _Aw~a-r=un-n~i_ occupied one end, for it was a double
tent; while at the opposite extremity the parents of the senior wife
were established. The old mother N=ow-k~it-y~oo assisted the
young woman in pulling off our wet clothes and boots, which latter
being of native manufacture, she new-soled and mended without any
request on our side, considering us as a part of the family. Dunn
slept in the little tent to watch our goods, and I had a small
portion of Ooyarra's screened off for me by a seal's skin. My host
and his wives having retired to another tent, and my visitors taking
compassion on me, I went comfortably to sleep; but at midnight was
awakened by a feeling of great warmth, and, to my surprise, found
myself covered by a large deerskin, under which lay my friend, his
two wives, and their favourite puppy, all fast asleep and stark
naked. Supposing this was all according to rule, I left them to
repose in peace, and resigned myself to sleep.
"On rising, Dunn and I washed with soap in a pond, which caused
great speculations among the by-standers, on some of whom we
afterward performed miracles in the cleansing way. A large
assemblage being collected to hear me talk of Ney-uning-Eitua, or
Winter Island, and to see us eat, the women volunteered to cook for
us; and, as we preferred a fire in the open air to their lamps, the
good-natured creatures sat an hour in the rain to stew some venison
which we had saved from our shares of the deer. The fires in summer,
when in the open air, are generally made of bones previously well
rubbed with blubber, and the female who attends the cooking chews a
large piece, from which, as she extracts the oil, she spirts it on
the flame.
"After noon, as I lay half asleep, a man came, and, taking me by the
hand, desired Dunn to follow. He led to a tent, which, from the
stillness within, I conjectured was untenanted. Several men stood
near the door, and, on entering, I found eighteen women assembled
and seated in regular order, with the seniors in front. In the
centre, near the tent-pole, stood two men, who, when I was seated on
a large stone, walked slowly round, and one began dancing in the
usual manner, to the favourite tune of 'Amna aya.' The second
person, as I soon found, was the dancer's assistant; and, when the
principal had pretty well exhausted himself, he walked gravely up
to him, and, taking his head between his hands, performed a ceremony
called _K=o=on~ik_, which is rubbing noses, to the great
amusement and amid the plaudits of the whole company. After this, as
if much refreshed, he resumed his performance, occasionally,
however, taking a koonik to enliven himself and the spectators. The
rub-_bee_, if I may be excused the expression, was at length brought
forward and put in the place of the first dancer, who rushed out of
the tent to cool himself. In this manner five or six couples
exhibited alternately, obtaining more or less applause, according to
the oddity of their grimaces. At length a witty fellow, in
consequence of some whispering and tittering among the ladies,
advanced and gave me the koonik, which challenge I Was obliged to
answer by standing up to dance, and my nose was in its turn most
severely rubbed, to the great delight of all present.
"Having been as patient as could be wished for above an hour, and
being quite overpowered by the heat of the crowded tent, I made a
hasty retreat, after having distributed needles to all the females,
and exacting kooniks from all the prettiest in return. A general
outcry was now made for Dunn, a most quiet North countryman, to
exhibit also; but he, having seen the liberties which had been taken
with my nose, very prudently made his retreat, anticipating what
would be his fate if he remained.
"During a short, interval of fine weather, we hung out our clothes
to dry, and the contents of our knapsacks, instruments, knives, and
beads were strewed on the ground, while we went inland to shoot a
few ducks. We cautioned no one against thieving, and were so much at
their mercy that everything might have been taken without a
possibility of detection; yet not a single article was found to have
been removed from its place at our return. At night I was attended
by the same bedfellows as before; the young puppy, however, being
now better acquainted, took up his quarters in my blanket-bag, as
from thence he could the more easily reach a quantity of
walrus-flesh which lay near my head; and I was awakened more than
once by finding him gnawing a lump by my side.
"On the morning of the 29th I was really glad to find that the ships
were not yet in sight, as I should be enabled to pass another day
among the hospitable natives. While making my rounds I met several
others, who were also visiting, and who each invited me to call at
his tent in its turn. Wherever I entered, the master rose and
resigned his seat next his wife or wives, and stood before me or
squatted on a stone near the door. I was then told to 'speak!' or,
in fact, to give a history of all I knew of the distant tribe,
which, from constant repetition, I could now manage pretty well. In
one tent I found a man mending his paddle, which was ingeniously
made of various little scraps of wood, ivory, and bone, lashed
together. He put it into my hands to repair, taking it for granted
that a Kabloona would succeed much better than himself. An hour
afterward the poor fellow came and took me by the hand to his tent,
where I found a large pot of walrus-flesh evidently cooked for me.
His wife licked a piece and offered it, but, on his saying something
to her, took out another, and, having pared off the outside, gave
me the clean part, which, had it been carrion, I would not have hurt
these poor creatures by refusing. The men showed me some curious
puzzles with knots on their fingers, and I did what I could in
return. The little girls were very expert in a singular but dirty
amusement, which consisted in drawing a piece of sinew up their
nostrils and producing the end out of their mouths. The elder people
were, for the most part, in chase of the tormentors, which swarmed
in their head and clothes; and I saw, for the first time, an
ingenious contrivance for detaching them from the back, or such
parts of the body as the hands could not reach. This was the rib of
a seal, having a bunch of the whitest of a deer's hair attached to
one end of it, and on this rubbing the places which require it, the
little animals stick to it; from their colour they are easily
detected, and, of course, consigned to the mouths of the hunters.
"The weather clearing in the afternoon, one ship was seen in the
distance, which diffused a general joy among the people, who ran
about screaming and dancing with delight. While lounging along the
beach, and waiting the arrival of the ship, I proposed a game at
'leap frog,' which was quite new to the natives, and in learning
which some terrible falls were made. Even the women with the
children at their backs would not be outdone by the men, and they
formed a grotesque party of opposition jumpers. Tired with a long
exhibition, I retreated to the tent, but was allowed a very short
repose, as I was soon informed that the people from the farthest
tents were come to see my performance, and, on going out, I found
five men stationed at proper distances with their heads down for me
to go over them, which I did amid loud cries of _koyenna_ (thanks).
"As the ship drew near in the evening, I perceived her to be the
Hecla, but, not expecting a boat so late, lay down to sleep. I soon
found my mistake, for a large party came drumming on the side of the
tent, and crying out that a 'little ship' was coming, and, in fact,
I found the boat nearly on shore. Ooyarra's senior wife now
anxiously begged to tattoo a little figure on my arm, which she had
no sooner done than the youngest insisted on making the same mark;
and while all around were running about and screaming in the
greatest confusion, these two poor creatures sat quietly down to
embellish me. When the boat landed, a general rush was made for the
privilege of carrying our things down to it. Awarunni, who owned the
little dog which slept with me, ran and threw him as a present into
the boat; when, after a general koonik, we pushed off, fully
sensible of the kind hospitality we had received. Toolemak and
Ooyarra came on board in my boat, in order to pass the night and
receive presents, and we left the beach under three hearty cheers."