Cheenbuk's plan was afterwards fully carried out. On the return of the
party with all their wonderful news and wealth of old iron, the greatest
excitement prevailed in the tribe, and the persons composing the
expedition became heroes and heroines for the time being. Each member
formed a centre of attraction and a subject of cross-examination to its
own particular relatives and friends.
In the igloe of Aglootook was assembled, perhaps, one of the most
surprised, if not one of the most credulous, of the gatherings--for the
magician had a strong hold on the imagination of the greater number of
his tribe, and a wonderful power of oratory. His wife in particular
idolised him, which said much for his amiability, and his only sister
worshipped him, which spoke volumes for her gullibility.
"Yes," he exclaimed, gazing round on the circle of his admirers; "I said
from the first that this would be a wonderful trip, and that we would be
sure to find _something_. And did we not find it?"
(Vigorous assent by look and voice from the audience.)
"And," he continued, with a lowered voice and solemn look, "if Cheenbuk
had not turned to the _left_ when I told him, we never would have found
it."
"But what was it like?" asked an elderly man with a squat-nose, whose
mind was not quite clear, although he had already listened to an
elaborate description.
"Like? Ho! it was like--like--"
"Like a big kayak?" remarked some one.
"No, no. Far, far bigger," said the magician, making an imbecile
attempt to indicate inconceivable size by waving arms and outspread
fingers; "it was--as big--as--as--"
"A whale?" suggested Squat-nose.
"Bigger--Bigger!" said Aglootook, with a lost look in his eyes. "You
could stuff twenty igloes into it; and there were three great poles
rising out of it as thick as--as _me_, with other poles across them, low
down and high up, and walrus-lines hanging about in all directions, some
as thick as my wrist, others as thin as my finger, and strange igloes
inside of it--not of snow, but of wood--with all kinds of things you
could think of in there; and things that--that--you could _not_ think of
even if you were to try--that nobody ever thought of since the world
began--wonderful!"
This seemed to fairly take away the breath of the audience, for they
could only glare and remain dumb. For a few moments they breathed hard,
then Squat-nose said in a deep whisper--
"Go on."
Aglootook did go on, and kept going on so long that his audience were
forced to go off and assuage the pangs of hunger which prolonged
abstinence and mental excitement at last rendered unendurable. But no
sooner was appetite appeased than the magician and his hearers returned
to the subject with redoubled energy.
"Is it very, _very_ far away?" asked Aglootook's wife, with a sigh, when
he explained to her the wonders of the mirror.
"Yes, a long, long way, and some of the ice is very rough for the dogs."
"Not too far for some of us to go and return before the open water?"
Squat-nose ventured to hope.
"Plenty of time," returned Aglootook, with a patronising smile. "In
fact I advised Cheenbuk to start away back as fast as possible with many
sledges, so that my woman will see it with her own eyes."
"And me too?" exclaimed the sister, bringing her palms together with a
smack.
"And you too. I advised Cheenbuk to take the whole tribe there to stay
till the time of open water, and he agreed. Cheenbuk is a wise young
man: he always takes my advice."
The subject of this eulogium was meanwhile giving a graphic and much
more truthful account of the expedition to Adolay, Mangivik, his mother,
and a select circle of friends; yet, although he did his best, like
Aglootook, to convey an adequate impression of what they had seen, we
make bold to say that the utmost power of language in the one, and of
imagination in the other, failed to fill the minds of those
unsophisticated natives with a just conception of the truth.
But they did succeed in filling most of their hearts with an
unconquerable desire to go and see for themselves, so that no difficulty
was experienced in persuading the whole tribe--men, women, children, and
dogs--to consent to a general migration.
Even Anteek held his court that night in the tent of old Uleeta.
Since the death of Gartok Anteek had shown much sympathy with that poor
old woman. Ill-natured people, (for there are such in Eskimo-land),
said that sympathy with young Uleeta had something to do with his
frequent visits to the tent. Well, and why not? The sympathy was not
the less sincere that it was extended to both.
Anyhow, a large circle of juvenile admirers of both sexes assembled
under the snow roof to hear the young lecturer, and we are inclined to
think that his discourse was quite as instructive and interesting as the
narratives of his seniors. He did not exaggerate anything, for Anteek
was essentially truthful in spirit. Nothing would induce him to lie or
to give a false impression if he could help it, but the vivid play of
his fancy and the sparkling flow of his young imagination were such that
he kept his audience in a constant ripple of amusement and fever of
anticipation. He was particularly strong on Aglootook, and whatever
that wily magician gained in the esteem of the adults, he certainly lost
among the juveniles.
So eager were the Eskimos to see the wonderful sights that had been
described to them, that they at once set about preparation for
departure. On the second day after the return of the exploring party
the entire village, having previously hidden away in a secure place the
things already obtained from the ship, mounted their sledges and
commenced their journey amid much noise and glee in the direction of
what was to them the far east.
It is needless, and would be tedious, to carry the patient reader a
second time over the same ground. Suffice it to say that when they
reached the spot, and were introduced to the white man's "Big kayak,"
they felt disposed to echo the words of the Queen of Sheba, and exclaim
that half had not been told them--not even although that huge humbug
Aglootook had told them a great deal too much!
New circumstances are apt to engender new conditions in savage as well
as civilised life. It is scarcely credible what an amount of hitherto
latent vanity was evoked by that mirror in the cabin, and that too in
the most unlikely characters. Mangivik, for instance, spent much of his
time the first few days in admiring his grey locks in the glass. And
old Uleeta, although one of the plainest of the tribe, seemed never to
tire of looking at herself. Squat-nose, also, was prone to stand in
front of that mirror, making hideous faces at himself and laughing
violently; but there is reason to believe that it was not vanity which
influenced him so much as a philosophical desire to ascertain the cause
of his own ugliness! Aglootook likewise wasted much of his valuable
time before it.
A new sense of shame was by this means developed among these natives, as
well as the power to blush; because after people had been interrupted
frequently in this act of self-admiration, they were laughed at, and the
constant recurrence of this laughter aroused a feeling of indignation,
at the same time a tendency to hop away and pretend interest in other
things! Squat-nose never did this. All his actions were open as the
day--of course we mean the _summer_ day,--and he would sometimes invite
an intruder to come and have a look at his reflection, as if it were a
treat. Hence our opinion of his motive.
Not so the magician. The very way he stood, and moved about, and
frowned at his double, betrayed his state of mind, while the sensitive
way in which he started off to gaze out at the stern windows or have a
look at the swinging barometer showed his feeling of guilt when caught
in the act. Anteek soon found this out, and was wont to lie in wait so
as to catch him in the act suddenly and with exasperating frequency.
After the first excitement of arrival was over, the Eskimos built igloes
on the shore and settled down to dismantle the vessel and take
possession of her stores, and of all that could be of use to them. They
built an elongated oval igloe on the shore as a store to receive the
lighter and, as they esteemed them, more valuable articles. Among these
were included all the axes, hoop-iron, and other pieces of manageable
metal that could be easily carried. There were also numbers of tin
cans, iron pots, cups, glass tumblers, earthenware plates, and other
things of the kind, which were esteemed a most valuable possession by
people whose ordinary domestic furniture consisted chiefly of seal-skin
bowls and shallow stone dishes.
During the few days that followed, the whole colony of men, women, and
children were busily occupied in running between the ship and the big
store with loads proportioned to their strength, and with joviality out
of all proportion to their size, for it must be borne in mind that these
children of the ice had discovered not only a mine of inconceivable
wealth, but a mine, so to speak, of inexhaustible and ever recurring
astonishments, which elevated their eyebrows continually to the roots of
their hair, and bade fair to fix them there for ever!
Perplexities were also among the variations of entertainment to which
they were frequently treated. Sometimes these were more or less cleared
up after the assembled wit and wisdom of the community had frowned and
bitten their nails over them for several hours. Others were of a nature
which it passed the wit of man--Eskimo man at least--to unravel. A few
of these, like the watch, had some light thrown on them by Nazinred, who
had either seen something like them in use among the fur-traders, or
whose sagacity led him to make a shrewd occasional guess.
One object, however, defied the brain-power alike of Indian and Eskimo;
and no wonder, for it was a wooden leg, discovered by Anteek in what
must have been the doctor's cabin--or a cabin which had been used for
doctor's stuff and material. Like letters of the alphabet given in
confusion for the purpose of being formed into words, this leg puzzled
investigators because of their inevitable tendency to lead off on a
wrong scent by assuming that the leg part was the handle of the
instrument, and the part for the reception of the thigh a--a--something
for--for--doing, they couldn't tell what!
Sitting round the stone lamp after supper, some of them passed the
mysterious object from hand to hand, and commented on it freely. The
leg was quite new, so that there were no marks of any kind about it to
afford a clue to its use.
Probably it had been made by the ship's carpenter for some unfortunate
member of the crew who had come by an accident, and died before he could
avail himself of it.