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NORTHERN REGIONS. RELATION 7.J 10 I 65 or UNCLE RICHARD'S VOYAGES rOA THB DISCOVERY or A AKD AN ACCOUNT OF THE OVERLAND JOURNIES or OTHER ENTERPRIZINO TRAVELLERS. SECOND EDITION. LbN'DQN: , J. HARRIS, ST. Paul's church-yard. 18126. LONDON: PRINTED BY COX AND BAYL18, OBEAT QUEEN BTBEET. I ■ PREFACE. The great interest excited in the present day for the intrepid adventurers to the Northern Hemisphere, has induced me to collect a few interesting and entertaining facts from their nar- rations, in order to gratify the spirit of inquiry so desirable in youth. And, while thus informing them of discoveries recently made, and transport- ing them with our brave countrymen to regions before unknown, I trust that my endeavours to combine the useful with the entertaining will not be thrown away, and that my young readers will be impressed with this conviction, that courage, resolution, and perseverance, will support men through toils and dangers, and enable them to act an honourable and useful part in the service of their country. A 2 IV I have gi¥en my narrations in as simple a style AS possible, conceiving it better for young people to read the facts and form their own conclusions, than to have an overdrawn picture presented to them, calculated merely for their amusement, and exciting an unhealthy taste for the marvellous and the fictitious. •1 -t- 1ms. Kiw •• • •, : ,■' ■. '? V ii. if * fi* ^Mi .11 1 ^^i: p j?i< mi\'^ .. ft.; J i TABLE OF CONTENTS. *• 1 , PART L—CHAPTER I. Introductonr Convenmtion. Two Ships, the Hccla and the Griper, fitted out, in 1819, under Uie command of Captain PaiTv. The Ships provisioned and stored. They set out in April. Difficult Navigation of Davis's Strait and Baffin'^ Bay. Icebergs. A Herd of Walruses. Magnificent View of Byam Martin Mountains and Possession Mount. General anxiety on entering Lancaster Sound. Description of the ** Crow's Nest" Disappointment at Maxwell Bay. Sport with White Whales. Their singing resembling Musical Glasses. Ice Blink. Explore Prince Regent's Inlet. Sail down Bar- row's Strait, and name every place as they go along. A pas- sage forced through the Ice. Snil westwa^, and reach Longi- tude 110, Latitude 74, by which the Crews of the Hecla and Griper became entitled to tiie first Reward. Reach Melville Island, and anchor in the Bay of the Hecla and of the Griper.. P. 1—15. CHAPTER IL Amusements on Shore. Shooting and Hunting. Mr. I^lfe's Adventure. Dangerous Position of the Ships. The Griper driven on Shore. Lieutenant Liddon's illness and firmness. The Ice thickening daily. Determinatioti to put back into the Bay. A canal cut through the Ice. The Ships ancho^«.«l in Winter Harbour on Sunday Afternoon, at the latter end of September. A group of Islands to the North, named " North Georgian Islands," in honour of George the Fotuth. . .P. 15—23. CHAPTER in. Preparations for passing the Winter. Healthy state of the Crew. Diet, Dress, and Food of the Men. Amusements during the Winter. Reindeer migrate in October. Wolves and Foxes left. Large White Bear. White Fox caught. Its dread of the Wolf. A Theatre prepared ; Lieutenant Beechy, Stage- master. North Geoi^^ian Gazette ; Captain Sabine, Editor. Observatory built Intensityof the Cold. Adventure of Joltii Pearson. Extraordinary eflfects of Cold. Direction Posts f ct A 3 VI CONTENTS. up. Beautiful Sky in October. Disappearance of the Sun on the 4ith of November. Anxious Thoughts. The Theatre opened with " Miss in her Tesns." Daily Occupations. Twilight at Noon. Christmas Df^y. Frost-bites. Frecau- . tions for Health. Temperature milder towards the close of December. P. 23—35. CHAPTER IV. u ■ *♦ m Return of severe weather in January. Scurvy. Salad- Beds. Brilliant appearance of Aurora Borealis. The Sun seen again on Februaiy 3, 20 Minutes before Noon. Preparations for re-equipping the Vessels. Stones collected for Ballast. In- -,^ convenience arising from opening the Stem- Windows too soon. -J; The Observatory on Shore accidentally burned. Frost-bites. The Snow begins to melt. The Observatory rebuilt. The " Citizen" and " Mayor of Garratt" performed. Theatre :, closed. Inclement weather in April. Return of the Reindeer and other Animals in May. Shooting Excursions. &tow ' Blindness. The Ice cleared from about the Ships. The Ships launched and examined. Ineffectual attempt at Garden, ing' Reappearance of the Soil of the Country. Sorrel. Table Hill. Pool of Water. Rain falls. Ivory Gulls seen. P. 35—44. CHAPTER V. Land Journey across Melville Island, Equipment. The Blue Hills. Ptarmigan, Plovers^ and Deer killed. A tame Rein- deer. Journey over, a Plain of Snow. Encampment on -Ith June. Joy at finding a stripe of uncovered Land. Pure ,^, Water. Grouse cooked for Supper. Discovery of Sabine - Isle. Encampment removed to Point Nias. A Monument erected upon it. Journey to the Blue Hills. Luxury of warm Food. Liddon's Gulf. Table Hills. Return to Win- ter Harbour P. 44i— 52. CHAPTER VI. Beautiful Runbows. Flowers and Sorrel. Shooting Parties. News of the Ice giving way. Death and Burial of the Seaman Scott. Hopes entertained of Sailing soon, but not of proceed- ing for westward. Short Summer in Melville Isle. Recal of Hunting-parties, and an attempt to move. Ice gives way ,1 on the last day of July. Departure from Winter Harbour, after a residence there of ten Months. Sail westward. Gri- per sails badly. The Iceberg passed, to which they had been anchored the year before. Cap^n Sabine visits a high wall of . Rock, the resort of Glaucous Gulls, which are very wild and d of re- '4 its. Re- ■:':;» 1 Reach 1 i Danger 'i' c Rapid. imaux at dventure v-V npraent. "i! 9—134. 1 tiA % CHAPTER IV. «^^^''''* v^jmm The Party embark in Canoes on the Polar Sea. Land at Deten- tion Harbour. Want of Provisions. Hood's River. Back's River. Musk- Ox and Bear killed and eaten. Bathurst Inlet. George the Fourth's Coronation Gulf. Encampment at Melville Sound. Pedestrian Tour to Point Tumagain. Determination to return to the Arctic Sound. I^ortness of the Summer. Departure from Point Tumagain. Hunger of the Canadian ■Voyagers. Hood's River. English Flag planted. Misfor- tunes of the Voyage up the River. Wilberforce Falls. Cap- tain Franklin's Illness. Loss of the largest Canoe. Tripe-de- Roche. Dreadful State of Famine. Mr. Hood's Illness. Ha- zardous Passage of the River. Sufferings from Cold and Hun- ger. The remaining Canoe lost. Some Deer killed. Vora^ city of the Cwadians. Anival at a part of Coppermine River. Perplexity about crossing it. A putrid Deer found and de- voured. Dr. Richaxdson's Danger, from attempting to swim over. A new Canoe constructed, and the Party transported across the River. Old Shoes and Scraps of Leather eaiten. Extreme Debility causes th£ Party to divide. Mr. Hood's Sufferings. Dr. Richardson stays with him. Captain Frank- lin and his Party reach Fort Enterprize, but find no Provisions. Their Wretchedness. Dr. Richardson and Hepburn join them. Sad Story. Deaths of Mr. Hood, Perrault, Fontano, and Michael. Providential Arrival of Indians with Food. The Party removed from Fort Enterprize to the Indian Camp. Kindness of Akaitcho. Letters from England. Join Mr. Back at Moose- Deer Island. Mr. Back's Narrative. Return to England P. 134r-163. PART IIL— CHAPTER L Uncle Richard's Return from his Northern Voyage, with Cap- tains Parry and Lyon. Begins his History. Leaves London, May, 1821. Icebei^s. Dutch Colonists, bound to the Red River. Tedious Voyage. A Bear killed. Visit from the Esquimaux of Savage Islands. Oomiaks, or Luggage Boats. Hideous Old Women. Love of Dancing. Jokes. An Esqm- maux Supper. Esquimaux of Nottingham Island. A sleep- ing Babe. Southampton Island. Rowe's Welcome. Repulse Bay. Frozen Strait. Traces of Esquimaux. A female Thief. Lyon Inlet. Blockaded by Ice for the Winter, in Safety Cove \^3>^i)^ X CONTENTS. IVinter Isle. Theatricals commenced. Arctic Fox. Christ- mas Day Amusement afforded by the institution of a School. Brilliant Display of Aurora Borealis. An Ermine caught. Bears P. 163—178. CHAPTER II. Arrival of Esquimaux. Their ceremonious Approach. Visit to their Snow-Huts. A Party visit the Ships. Peculiar Manners. Old Kettle, an intelligent Esquimaux. Description of their Huts. Children well-mannered. Mrs. Kettle. Tattooing. Dogs. Persons and Dress of Esquimaux Men and Women. Description of their Children. Occupations of men and wo- men P. 178— 194. CHAPTER III. An Esquimaux Repast. Cookery. Anecdote of a poor Idiot Boy. Ay-o*-kitt's Visit to the Cabin. Wolves troublesome. Wolf-trap. Mr. Richards's Battle with a Wolf. Improvidence of the Esquimaux. Old Kettle's Sagacity. Game at Leap- • frog. Voracity of the Children. Embarrassing Hospitality. Women not silvered to eat tUl Hie men are satiated. Method of eating. A juvenile Mimic. Visit from Two Esquimaux ' Ladies. Kettle, a Thief. An evening's Visit from Ay-o'-kitt. > Faulty Side of the Esquimaux Character. Severe Cold. Great Distress among the Esquimaux. Their Necessities relieved from the Ships. Return of Plenty. Their Gluttony and In> gratitude. Departure of Esquimaux. A general Thaw, Land Excursion. Death of James Fringle, a Seaman. Part- ing Presents to some stray Esquimaux. Birds. A Swan's - Nest. First Flower seen. Canalcutthrough the Ice. Cape Fisher. Rural F^te P. 196—214. CHAPTER IV. Departure from Winter Isle. Danger of the Hecia from the Tides. Battle with Walruses. Esquimaux of Igloolik. Wal- rus-skin Tents. Poverty and Hospitality. A Dance. Jour- ney with Toulemak. Dog Sledges. Indian Meal. Ooyarra, • the Fisherman. New Way of making a Fire. Esquimaux '■ Boll. Dance of Noses. The Ships sail farther North. Strait ' of the Fury and Hecla. Hopes of entering the Polar Sea. • Beset with Ice. Return to Igloolik. Bone Huts. Ice • Huts. Anatkos, or Conjurors. Winter sets in. Visits from - some Winter-Isle Esquimaux. Tenderness of the Esquimaux towards their Dogs. A Marriage. Toulemak's Dream. Mi- raculous Cure of Lumbago. Esquimaux Politeness. A long Breakfast. Second Christmas Day. Anecdotes of Bears. CONTENTS. H">' XI Death of Takkalikkita's Wife and Child. Esquimaux Funeral. Illness of the Widow Kagha. Her Discontent and Ingratitude. Inattention of Esquimaux to their Sick. Esquimaux Village. Return of Spring. Snow and Icb Huts melted away. Prepa- rations for sailing. Esquimaux Coquette. Esquimaux Dandy. Esquimaux Murders. Toulemak's polite Message to the King of England. Excursions up the Country. Ships leave Igloo- lik. Reach Winter Isle. Visit to the Shore. Return to Eng- land. Hospitable Reception at Lerwick. P. 214—846. PART IV.— CHAPTER I. . »^>« •^t» AirU V ut effect- hid pur- ^re fitted rer than ch I saw ow, was Griper, imiiiand- ps toge- us, you DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. S maiy be iture, proud of serving in bn expedition which might be of service to our country. It required a stout heart, Charles, for we had a perilous enterprize in view; the sailors, however, were cheered by the promise of double pay, and ourselves by the thoughts of such happy moments as these, when, our dangers being all over, we should be welcomed home again, and be relating our exploits to our friends. '* I must begin by tiling you what provision was made for our comfort in the regions of ice and snow, to which we were bound,'and where we might possibly be shut up for many a winter's month. Both ships had been taken int(> dock some time previously to our departure, and made as strong as possible, and completely furnished with provisions for two years; warm clothing of every kind was supplied, together with a wolf s skin blanket for each man ; and abundance of coals^ which were stowed instead of ballast. " We were all ready by April, but the wind being adverse, we were obliged to be taken in tow by a steam-boat to Northfleet, and on the 20th of May we found ourselves rounding the northern point of the Orkney Islands; from thence you may follow us on the map to Cape Farewel, in Greenland, which we spied at a great distance on the 16th of June. On the 18th« wq entered Davis's 4 .(. ICE-BERGS. Strait, and fell in with the first stream of icej through which we towed till our ships were im- moveably beset." " "What do you mean by that, uncle?*' asked Charles. . . ^ .'.../: ' • . "Why, Charles, they were literally stuck fast by ice; little did you think, in the middle of . the summer before last, while you were lying on the sunny bank near the pool, watching your own ship Hecla i with her petty sails, that I was stepping down the side of the real one upon a land of ice. In fact, we were now in a truly desolate situation, and were for some days drifted about at the mercy of these shoals of ice. At last we spied landj and after eight hours* very hard labour, we succeeded in getting both ships into clear water. But pic- ture to yourself a huge rock of frozen snow and ice towering above our heads, and threatening our poor ships with instantaneous destruction ; . and when I tell you that I counted fifty of those ice" berffs, as they are called, in one day, you will have some idea of our sensations. The swell of the sea dashing the loose ice against these bergs with a tremendous force, sometimes threw up a spray more than a hundred feet above them; and being accompanied by a noise resembling thunder, pre- sented a scene of terrific grandeur. \ " Our only sport, if sport it could be called, was L_- I of ice, were im- • Tasked ituck fast le of . the ig on the own ship stepping id of ioe. situation, he mercy and/ and ucceeded But pic- inow and niiig our on ; . and hose ice" vill have of the rgs with a spray id being ier, pre- ss*;. r^ yK>7^^^^yJ^^ I hthUsM April ^'f'jSiJ.hj JJI.vrij. JSPmiIj tliuivhYard. v-^ f babfin'8 bay* • 6 in chasing a heap of tralriises, which lay huddled together on a piece of ice ii^e pigi. T)iete ani- Bialt are stupidly tome. They allonvf^our boats to approach, quite near them, without a .tempt- ing to moTc; but when once di uFbed. they clos'^ied into the water with the greatest confu- I remarked that walruses are amazingly >n difificalt to kill: we struck one of them wi h our harpoonsy the iron barb of which, as wt after- wards found, had entered the heart, and } et it struggled so violendy for ten minutes as to n ove the boat twentv or thirty yards along with it. . *< From the fat of this animal we laid in i wi a> ter's supply of oil for our lamps. j...^< We were now in Baffin'^ Bay, and though yt* got on tolerably well, yet our progress was much impeded by thick fogs, which often, indeed, placed us in considerable danger. One day we perceived that a current was drifting us towards an iceberg one hundred and forty feet high, while a floe or sheet of ice threatened to enclose us on the other side ; we worked very hard to clear the berg, which we did jiMt a few minutes before the floe dashed against it, and surrounded it on all ades. '< l^metimes we were cheered by the aght of a stream of clear water between the ice^ and thien we sailed on swiftly; sometimes we sawed away the ice that stood in our way; and joyous work B 8 6 LANCASTER SOUND. . there was among the sailors when we had secured our ships' in a * natural dock,* as they called it, which, was a kind of hollow, or bay, in a field of ice : our Captain, on those occasions, ordered us an extra allowance of meat and spirits, and all hands vere allowed to rest. ;S;tr " You must not suppose these fields of ice to have resemWed the ice which covers your pool in win- ter, Charles; I have seen some of them three times your height in thickness, and many miles in extent. Indeed, it was well we had strong ships, for they had to encounter severe blows in their ^course through Baffin's Bay. However, we got on pretty well in spite of all difficulties, and steered ourcourse, though somewhat crookedly, north-west towards Sir James Lancaster's Sound." ^; Tom. Now, uncle, please to stop while I look at the map for this Sound. ^ - ^ ^r *« You will soon find it, my boy," said uncle Richard; "for, until this voyage ofour's, there was not much known of the world beyond it. Captain Parry had commanded one of the ships in the last year's expedition, and he felt confident that if he could get through these shoals of ice in the middle r . Baffin's Bay, we should get two months of good sailing in a clear open sea. The event proved that he was right, for our well-built sturdy ves- sels,, assisted by our commander's skill and perse- ad secured y called it, ieldofice; red us an I all hands ice to have >ol in win- lem three ly miles in ong ships, s in their , we got on id steered lorth-west iile I look aid uncle there was Captain n the last that if he le middle s of good proved irdy ves- nd perse- POSSESSION MOUNT. f vierance (for a sailor can do nothing with- out perseverance, Charles), got us through this barrier of ice, which was eighty miles across, in a season in which no one had ever attempted it before. - -n-:. - r, ! '•*'•* A* "Towards the latter end of July, theicegradu- .ally disappeared, and we were sailing in an open sea,' with nothing to stop our progress but our consort, the Griper, who was rather tardy in her motions; but, notwithstanding that, we soon had a sight of the high lands about Possession Bay, with a distant view of the magnificent Byam Martin mountains. Every one was en deck to look at the flag-staff on Possession Mount, which had been erected in the former expedition, and to hail it as*an old acquaintance; a few of us landed and strolled for three or four miles up the country, to pass away the time while the Griper was coming up. We could not, however, find a single tree, nor any signs of human beings; and after some few observations, we returned to our ships and set sail for the Sound. ., ^ " Af ic was the main object of our expedition very carefully to explore this Sound, and, if no passage could be found this way, to go farther north ; and as the Griper continued to detain us so much, Captain Parry determined to go on without her, and accordingly, after leaving instrac? 11 8 h AN3^tOUS MOMENTS. \ ' ' tions with Captain Liddon where to meet again in case of separation, the Hecla added fresh sail, and, flying along, soon came in sight of the northern shore of the Sound. *^ Now, look at this little drawing, which I made on the spot : follow the Hecla, Charles, along this line, which marks her course; and if you could have looked on her deck that afternoon, you would have beheld officers and men crowding with breathless anxiety in their looks, and listening with eagerness to the various reports from the crow's-nest." **The crowVnest, uncle?** cried Charles, with some impatience, for he had begun to be so much interested, that he was vexed at being inter- rupted by an expression which he could not under- stand. -^ *' t,^i;>3i'■."^'••f'•^'- i '^iiCi A ;■ ' << Indeed, Charles, you must excuse an old sailor, like me, for making use of sea-phrases now and then, but I am willing enough to explain them. The crow*s-nest is a little round-house, like a tub, placed at the mast*s head, in which a man sits, who is called the look-out man, whose business it is to guide the ship through the ice, or to give notice of whatever objects he may spy. We had a distant glimpse of Cape Castlereagh, which is situated on the south of the sound ; and after that we sailed briskly along till midnight, and still found no land to impede our course down this magnificent inlet. SINGING WHALES. 9 et again in fresh sail) bt of the ich I made along this couldbave rould have breathless eagerness lest.** irles, with to be so eing inter- lot under- old sailor, now and dn them, ke a tub, sits, who ss it is to notice of a distant situated we sailed 1 no land mt inlet. Our hopes ran high. We passed a large bay, which we called Croker*s Bay ; and indeed we had busy work in providing names for every new cape and island, which we were- now hourly discovering. " But when I talk of land, you must not think of green fields, hedges, and trees: you must picture to yourselves abrupt and craggy rocks topped with snow, rising boldly from the sea, in every variety of form and shape. "At last we came to a cape, which we named Cape Fellfoot, and which we thought terminated the coast; and as it was very foggy, and we could not see far, we began to flatter ourselves that we had really entered the Polar Sea. But a report of land again damped our hopes, as it seemed this was only a bay which we had been passing. Captain Parry named this Maxwell Bay. " As the weather was now very calm and thick, we amused ourselves with endeavouring to kill some of the white whales, which were swimming in num- bers about the ships; but they were cunning, and would not permit a boat to come near them without diving. I was near enough, however, to hear one sing. You may laugh, Charles, but I can assure you it made a sound something like the musical glasses, when you clumsily attempt to play them; and, strange to say, I heard it most distinctly while 10 AN ICE-BLINK. it was swimming directly under the boat that I was in. * •--.- — « We saw here^ too, soine narwhals^ or what the sailors call the sea-unicorn.^' *r'SiiHv';; <" :; v ;i " You have not told us," said Tom, " what was become of your consort the Griper, uncle, whom you left behind you, at the entrapce of Sir James Lancaster's S6uiid." <^ Oh, the Griper had overtaken us ; indeed^ it had made better speed, and had not been out of sight of its protector, the Hecla, for many days to- gether. 'iOi lii^^lltUyi iff/ t^aitlv; iKUi »K)Ci-Ut4 :. '•Well, now, my boys, you have seen us advance^ by the middle of August, as far as M^well Bay ; imagine us all fUll of the hopes of making dis** coveries, which we flattered ourselves would im^ ^^;mortalize our names, when all at once we found our progress stopped by contiimed floes of ice^ which an ice^blink warned us it would be useless to attempt to cut through.'^ pmic^fit^ iy^nt « What is that, uncle ?* asked Tom. ''An ice^blink is a bright light in the at- mosphere, which shews that you -\re approaching ice, or land; covered with snow, ^i J/*' Well, we steered our course southward, to ' escape from being surrounded by the ice, which a current was driving rapidly towards us, and we soon came in sight of some islands^ which loat that I :>r what the usadvancei xwell Bay ; laking difr- would im«- e we found oes of ice, •e useless to in the at- )proaching thward, to ice, which s us, and ds, which M: PRINCE regent's INLET. Il tf€ named ' Prince Leopold's Isles ;' we then entered a grand inlet to the south of the sound, and sailed a distance of 120 miles down it. The shores appeared to be formed by islands on each side of it ; and at Lome future time it may be thought worth while to explore it, with a view to find an opening into Hudson's Bay; but as our present object was to go westward, and as Captain Parry hoped thdt by this time the ice in the Sound would have cleared itself off, we made what expedition we could northward again. As we could not, how- ever, proceed rapidly, we determined to explore the eastern coast of this inlet, which we denominated * Prince Regent's Inlet.' Cape Kater, you per- ceive, is the southern extremity of our visit; we sheltered along some cliffs in a beautiful little bay, to which we gave the name of * Port Bowers.' These cliffs look like ruined towers and battlements, and fragments of the rocks were constantly tum- bling oni upon another. At last we came to the eastern extremity, which we called ' Cape York,' in honour of the Duke of York, and took our leave of the inlet, after leaving traces of many of our friends, by naming points and bays after them." " Indeed, uncle," exclaimed Charles, " I must go with you on your next voyage ; for I think it must be delightful to find out new places and to give them names !"i., ^ .i ...£;; 12 barrow's strait. t. " Well, wait, my little fellow, till I have finished my history, before you decide upon accompany- ing Captain Parry in his next voyage. At the time I am now speaking of, it was certainly very exhilarating, and you will enter into the delight of the crew, on the certainty we all felt that we had at length disentangled ourselves of the land which forms the western side of Baffin's Bay, and that, in fact, we had actually entered the Polar Sea. Impressed with the hope that we had passed from one sea to another, our Captain gave the name of Barrow's Strait to the opening through which we had made a passage from Baffin's Bay to Welling- ton Channel, in honour of Mr. Barrow, Secretary to the Admiralty, who has done much in pro- moting northern discovery. It was now the middle of August : we had six good navigable weeks be- fore us, our ships had suffered no injury, we had plenty of provisions, a navigable sea, and a crew in high health and spirits, and resolute to do all in their power to accomplish the object of the expedition. Now, you, Tom, who are so intently studying the map, place your finger upon Behring's Straits and Fly Cape, and draw it carefully along to the north-west comer of the newly-discovered Bar- row's Strait. Observe our ships, which are sta- tioned in this corner, now steering their course in the direction of this line. The wind favoured us; lave finished A PASSAGE rOIlCED THROUOtI ICE. 13 it is impossible to conceive any thing more ani- mating than the quick and uninterrupted ruri which our ships took from Beechy Island across to Cape Hothain. Rapid motion, you know, always raises the spirits; for who, Charles, would know him to be the same boy listening so gravely to me now, who, at a game of cricket, is so full of boisterous mirth and glee ? This feeling was much increased in us by the slow and tedious manner in which our navigation had hitherto proceeded In these seas. Imagine our vexation and disappointment, then^ when a report was , issued from the crow's-nest, that a body of ice lay directly across our passage! For some time no opening could be seen in it^ but in about an hour, Lieutenant Beechy discovered one narrow jpeek, which consisted of loose pieces of ice» instead of one solid mass; beyond which, there was a considerable extent c^ open water. We immediately pushed the Hepla into this neck, and after a quarter of an hour's boring we suc- ceeded in getting her through it. The Griper followed in the opening.we had made, and now again we were in an open, sea, pursuing our course westward. We passed various islands, the first of which we named * Lowther Isle,' the next * Young,' and the next * Davy Island>' We had not a very , distinct view of the shores of t^ese islands^ but they were not in general so much '* ■■;.: u 14 ATTAINMENT OF 110° LONGITUDE. covered with snow as we had expected, nor were they very high. " Being once more stopped by ice, we leaded for awhile on a new island to the south-east, to which we gave the name of* Byam Martin Island;* here our eyes were once more gladdened by the traces of human beings : these consisted of heaps of stones placed in a circular form, which those who had visited those regions before knew to be the remains of Esquimaux huts. In vain did we look for any living beings, reindeers* horns and traces of the musk-ox alone met our eyes. During this time we moored our ships to a floe, which afterwards b<}came a common practice with us. Pursuing our course westward, we soon came to another much larger island, which appeared, however, to resemble Byam Martin Island in its genera^ outline. We continued a westerly course, keeping land in sight, and naming every different point as we went on, till we reached that degree of west longitude, by arriving at which the Hecla and the Griper became entitled to the reward of five thousand pounds, which had been promised by the King, to be distributed among such of his subjects as should reach the meridian of 110 degrees, in latitude 74. ^^ ^'" %^;i: '/ " It was on a Sunday that Captain Parry an- nounced to us this joyful fact ; and I shall never REJOICINGS AT MELVILLE ISLE. 15 forget the smile of honest satisfaction that ap- peared on the faces of my fellow seamen. " Thus we had completed one stage of our voyage ; and, as if to make it the more striking to all of us, we dropped anchor, for the first time since leaving the coast of Norfolk. The pendants and ensigns were hoi&ted as soon as we had an- chored, and we sailors shouted for joy, at seeing the British flag wave in those regions, which had till then been considered beyond the limits of the habitable world. But I must not omit to tell you that this was the celebrated Melville Isle, which you have heard me talk of so often, and that the bay in which we anchored, we named, in honour of our stout ships, the *Bayof theHecla and the Griper.'*' CHAPTER II. " However flattering our success had been, you must remember that we had now to look forward to the speedy arrival of winter; for in those regions there is but little summer, you know, and the rest of the year is one perpetual night; consequently, we could not hope to do much more this season. The few dark hours we began to experience in the night already gave us much uneasiness, from the circumstance that we found it necessary to have tae ships at those hours fastened to a floe, c 2 M EXCURSIONS ON MELVILLE ISLE. ** But, notwithstanding every impediment, Cap- tain Parry determined upon sailing on as long as he could through September; and therefore gave orders that every thing should be ready against the ice would admit of our sailing again. As we were compelled to be quiet for the present, we amused ourselves as well as we could : a party of us took our guns on shore to beat for game. We met with a white hare, which it was difficult enough to trace, its white skin resembling so much the c ;lour of the snow over which it scampered. A ptm migan and a few snow-buntings fell to the lot of some of the best of our sportsmen ; while I, who am but a clumsy hand at shooting, came home laden with two or three skulls of the musk-ox, and a few reindeers' horns, thy li^ e animals of that kind being no where to be found. One of our straggling seamen was particularly welcome on his return, for he brought with him a lump of coal, which he had picked up, and which proved to be tolerably abundant hereabout, and particularly valuable from the circumstance of its giving a bright flame when it burns, so as to serve for the double purpose of fire and candles. Our impa- tience to get on was extreme, but it was madness to think of moving ; and our uneasiness was increas- ed by a very alarming occurrence. Mr. Fife, with ^ party of six men from the Griper, had been dis- ANXIETY FOR A MISSING PARTY. IT ]>atchecl, the day before, in search of reindeer and musk-oxen, and had not yet returned. As they had taken but little food with them, and as there had been a heavy fall of snow during the night, we were afraid they had lost their way. Lieute- nant Liddon dispatched three of his crew in search of them, but the snow made the atmosphere so thick, that these also lost their way; but they for- tunately were at last guided by our rockets back to the ships, where they arrived at ten at night, exhausted with hunger and fatigue, and unable to give any account of the absentees. The next day, at daylight, I went, by Captain Parry's wish, and took the Hecla's fore-royal-mast, upon which I hoisted a large ensign, and planted it upon a hill four or five miles inland. We thought the wanderers could hardly fail of seeing this, and that it would be a more certain method of guiding them to the ships than sending out parties, which indeed it would have been almost cruel to do; but the snow fell so thick that this plan failed. " Another night passed, therefore, without any tidings of the stragglers, and we were all anxiety to know their fate. " Next morning four parties were dispatched in different directions, all carrying with them pikes, on which flags were fastened. These pikes they " put into the ground at intervals as they went on, c 3 (I iiii 18 RETURN OF THE WANDERERS. in order both to mark the path by which they might rettirhy and to warn the unhappy wanderers, if they came near them, that relief was at hand ; and to each pike a bottle was fixed, in which was a $]ip of paper, giting notice that provisions would be met with at the large flag-staff on the hill. "The whole of that day there Was a most pier- cing cold wind, with a constant drifting snow; and our horror was extreme when we found the sun Set- ting for the third time since these poor fellows had left the ship; Our joyful feelings may be guessed when we heard the Griper's signal that her m^n, or some of them, wer^ ibu|id. Part only as yet were returned, without Fife; and they told us that they had lost their way a few hours after leaving thi ship, and that they had wandered about till they saw the flag-staff. Mr. Fife fancied this flag was one which had been hoisted some time before, and walked another way with two of the men, while these four made for the flag-stafl". They halted for the night on their way, and made asoitofhut of stones and turf to shelter themfrom the weather, and kindled a little Are with moss and gunpowder to warm their feet : and, fortunately, they nevdr wanted food, being able to supply themselves with raw grouse, which they shot and ate. " We were just going to dispatch some parties in search of Fife, when news was brought that he ■ ■ '^^-i ■■...■■- lihlf u1 \^ ^^ .- ^^-'"^^I^;*^. ^^lu^^K^B^^QI^^^BR-t^BB^IJ^M^^^^^^^H^^^^I X : ■ : ■ 1^^ '•>.•' r tul'iiJu-.l .//•ru'.f '^.•firS.hj J.Samj, S^FauU clturch lliiW. i. . *> -• A « 1 -■«- #;^ X-.'. .( CRITICAL SITUATION. 19 was seen returning, with his two men. They had been three nights exposed to the weather, and were much exhausted by cold and fatigue ; their toes and fingers were frost-bitten, and re- quired great care from our medical gentleman before they could be cured. " We had great reason to be thankful for their return ; for the following night was so severe that it is scarcely possible they could have survived it. In gratitude for this act of mercy, we named the spot * Cape Providence.* " If this does not give you some idea of the increasing dangers of our situation, I will endea- vour to describe to you the situation of our ships, when I drew this little picture. You know the danger to ships of being on shore : well, we were sailing with a fair wind alongside of the main land, when our progress was delayed by young, or what we call hay ice, which is ice newly frozen, and requires efforts to cut through, although it is not sufficient entirely to stop us. We were as near shore as we could be without danger, when we perceived a field of thick ice driven by a strong current towards us, and threatening to dash us against the land. Nothing could have saved us from immediate destruction, had there not been a mass of thick ice, or an iceberg, projecting from the main land, on each side of 20 THE GRIPER AGROUND. which one of our ships was forced by the drift- ed ice to take shelter. We were within a hun- dred yards of this point, when we saw the floe dash against it with a tremendous crash, piling up enormous fragments of ice in a most terrific man- ner ! And thankful indeed were we at having es^ caped a situation from which no human skill could have saved us." " Oh ! my dear uncle," cried Charles, who had be>,^n almost breathless during this account, "how I rejoice at your escape, and that your poor Hecla was not run aground ! But do tell me why the good Griper, your consort,is drawn in that forlorn situation, all on one side, as if she were already lightened of her crew, and half filled with water?" ^ " I will tell you, my boy. Our calamities ap- peared to be hourly multiplying. We passed a fearful night, surrounded by terrors. In the morn- ing we perceived numerous floes, which threatened us ; some of them missed the Hecla by a hundred yards ; but at length we perceived one moving up to the Griper, and we saw her turn on her side so much, that we had no doubt but she had been forced on shore. Indeed, it was too true; and what made it more melancholy, was that its com- mander. Lieutenant Liddon, was suffering from illness, which had been much increased from the last fortnight's disasters, and the severe weather. "M the tlritV in a hun- le floe dash piling up irrific man- having esr skill could ;s, who had >unt, " how poor Hecla le why the hat forlorn ere already ith water?" amities ap- Jq passed a 1 the morn- threatened a hundred moving up her side so ;< had been true; and lat its com- •ering from WINTER QUARTERS NECESSARY. ft '* We sent some of our men round to assist the Griper in her distress; and Captain Parry was anxious that Lieutenant Liddon should be re- moved to the Hecla; but he refused, saying that he would be the last man, instead of the first, to quit his vessel ; and accordingly he remained seat- ed against the side of the deck, during the great- er part of the day, giving the necessary orders.*' "I like him for it, uncle," cried Charles; " I hope, mamma, that you will let :ne call that firm- ness, and not obstinacy." " I will allow you, my boy," answered his mam- ma; "and I agree with you in admiring that firm- ness of resolution, which made him persevere in performing his duty, notwithstanding his bodily I sufferings." " The Griper, ourdistressed consort," continued uncle Richard, " was not very long before she was afloat again ; but the unpromising appearance of the ice, the advanced season, and the risks we had undergone for some days past, made our com- mander think that it was time to look out for winter quarters. *< The young ice was forming so rapidly, that we were convinced it was owing to the strong winds alone that the sea was not entirely frozen over in these parts ; and it seemed not improbable, that if the weather continued calm for four-and- 22 A CANAL CUT THROUGH THE ICE. twenty hours, we might be obliged to pass the win- ter in our present exposed situation. It was unanimously agreed, therefore, that it would be the wisest plan to put back into the Bay of the Hecla and the Griper, which promised the best shelter. We anchored at the south of this bay, but found that it would be necessary to cut a canal of about two miles in length, through the ice, before we could plant ourselves into the harbour which we had decided upon. The sailors set to work to cut this canaJ with great spirit, and being fond of doing things in their own way, had several new contrivances to help them on. For instance, look here, Charles, these blocks of ice were to be floated out of the canal, as soon as they had cut them; and to do this the easier, they fastened these old boat sails to them, by which a northerly breeze soon wafted them into the open part of the sea. * " But the cutting of this canal was very tedious work ; our first day's task took us till midnight to finish, and on the second we found it neces- sary to sink the blocks of ice under the floe, instead of floating them out, as the entrance of the canal, through which the ships had passed, was now frozen. We accomplished this difficult job in the following manner : some of our men stood upon one end of the block of ice which was to be sunk, while others on the floe dragged M M ICE. lass the win- ►n. It was it would be Bay of the sed the best of this bay, o cut a canal he ice, before rbour which it to work to being fond of several new nstance, look 3 to be floated ,d cut them; ed these old therly breeze of the sea. s very tedious midnight to ind it neces- der the floe, ; entrance of had passed, this difficult of our men of ice which floe dragged SAFE ANCHORAGE IN WINTER HARBOUR. 23 the opposite end towards them. Officers and all joined in the employ, and many of them frequent- ly stood during the whole day up to their knees in water which was nearly as cold as ice. In the evening we moved the ships ; the Griper, you observe, is fastened to the Hecla, and the two ships' companies, in parties on each bank, dragged the ships along by ropes fastened to the Hecla. " Our work was not completed by Sunday, which we would gladly have made a day of rest, but we were afraid of being frozen up entirely, as the ice was forming with great rapidity. On Sunday after- noon, however, we finished it. Our ships were safely anchored in a harbour, to which we gave the name of * Winter Harbour*; and a group of islands, |which we had discovered to the north, we called |the ' North Georgian Islands,' in honour of our I King, George the Fourth, who had given such I great encouragement to the prosecution of usefui discoveries." . >h CHAPTER III. ^ " Here we are, then, my boys, at rest from ail ^pur toils ! But do you envy us our situation, iCharl*»s? Shut up in the midst of ice and snow, for eight or ten months to come, some of which must be passed in utter darkness ! We had many 84 THE SHIPS lilSMANTLED. serious evils to face, such as you, who stay at home, and have a good fire always to go to, and good food of every kind to sustain you, Uttle dream of. But to face evils steadily, is half to conquer them; and therefore we set to work to arrange every thing in the best manner we could. '^ The masts of the ships were dismantled ; and we formed on the deck of the Hecla a kind of housing, by planks covered with thick cloth, such as wag- gons are covered with; and this sheltered the upper deck from wipd and snow. The upper deck was also cleared, to enable the crew to take exer- cise there when the weather was too severe for them to go on shore. We were so anxious to preserve our ropes, and a variety of other things, that we took unnecessary trouble; for, if we had had more experience, we should have known, that to suffer the fine snow to fall upon them would have protected the;n better thai) any plan we could devise. < take e::er- severe for anxious to bher things, f if we had :nown, that hem would y plan we id was the They had :cept Lieut. I recovered, have their oth for the le necessary nkiit's pre- PREPARATIOrS FOR A LONG WINTER. 25 terved meat, and vegetable poup, were distributed instead of so much salt mea^ and an allowahce was made of pickles and vinegar, to keep off the scurvy. Each man was forced to drinksome limejuice mixed with sugar, every day. I can assure you, sailors are no better than children when their own health is concerned; for if some of us had not stood by all the while, this potion would never have been drunk. How to amuse and occupy ourselves was the next, and a very important consideration." '< Oh,*' exclaimed Charles, ** I should not have been long in fixing upon that, uncle; you could skate and slide ; and you could build snow houses ; and hunt the white hares, and set fox*traps, and a hundred other things.'* «* Well done, Charles, with your hundred other things ! In some respects, indeed, we did as you would have done; we hunted all the aninutls we could find. Very few deer fell to our lot ; for the tamer animals migrated at the end of October, and left only wolves and foxes to keep us company. We had fox-traps too : and, one day Captain Sa- bine's servant^ who had been sent to examine oiie of these traps, was followed by a white bear almost all the way back to the ships, from; :«^ch several balls were aimed at him, but the slyiWiow made his escape. This was the only bear wk:sww all through the winter, and it was of a very pmie P 26 NORTH GEORGIAN GAZETTE. white: I was in hopes of bringing you home a beautiful little white fox, but it died in its passage; he paid our ship a visit one hi^t) and Isucce^ded in catching him. You cannot imaginei Charles, how the poor little creature shrunk and trembled whenever a wolf was heard to howl hear th6 ships; I cannot help Taiicyirig^ from that circumstance^ that they are hunted by wolves in theii' wild state. As for wolves, we used to hear them howl mojt hideously on the beach, for hours together ; but y^e seldom saw mdny Itt a time, aiid they w^'re shy of coming near us, and never attacked any of us, even when evidently suffering from hunger. "And now for our other amusements: what think you, Charles, of acting plays ?** ' " if you had but had k playhouse, uOolel" ' ' *< So we thought, and we set to 'work to h$ve ^ne prepared, ahd Lieut. Beechey was appointed stage-master ; and the 5th of Ni>veifiber M^as fixed upon for bur first performance, ^s th^t is a grand holidays you knoSv. ** While our theati» was preparing, we set pn foot a weekly newspaper, which we called the North Georgian Gazette find Winter Chrojo^cle; Capt; Sabine was edilx>r, and It wajs wiritten by the officers of both ships ;'in^ny;iMi hour b^if^ thiis occufned which otherwise tiitght^baye been passed in diinking .;«< I suppose i need hardly tell you, that we officers spent our evenings «;omewhat more graven lyi reading and writing, a game at chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, being our jchief iem- MARKS OF RETURNING DAY. 33 " On Sundays, divine service was performed on boar'^ each of the ships, and a sermon read ; and it was pleasing to see the attention paid by our sailors to their religious duties. " We acted plays once a fortnight, and they continued a source of great amusement. Unfor- tunately we had but few plays with lis, and it was difficult to vary them sufficientl}. Some of the officers, therefore, whom we called our authors, because thev were better skilled in the use of their pen than most of us, set to work, and composed a musical entertainment for a Christmas piece. ** Tht "'"ith great ingenuity adapted it to our audien< ' uid to the situation in which we were placed, and alluded to the success we had already met with in so happy a manner, as at once to produce entertainment, and to encourage hopes of the ultimate success of the expedition. ** You will perhaps wonder how we could mark each day, when the total absence of the sun had placed us in perpetual night. " The whole face of nature was indeed com- pletely changed to us, but it was far from being so gloomy as you would imagine. A considerable twilight about noon denoted the return of day, and in clear weather, a beautiful arch of red light overspread the horizon to the south, for an hour or two before and after noon.*' 84 ." CHRISTMAS DAY. * ^ " That was a very short day, uncle; and had you light enough then to see to read ?" asked Tom. - " Yes, Tom," answered his uncle. " Christmas camp without bringing with it utter darkness; indi.od, the reflection of light from the snow, in addition to the occasional presence of a bright moon, prevented us from experiencing at any time thegloo- ttly night which occurs in more temperate climates. ' " Great care was taken, all the while the sun was under the horizon, to keep regular hours for our meals ; and as the days shortened very gradually, we did not feel the approach of the shortest day, though we were not sorry when it had passed. We spent our Christmas-day as much as possible in the same manner as we should have done ^t home. After divine service, the men •had fresh meat at dinner, and rather more grog, to drink the health of their friends in England. The officers had a piece of roast beef, which, strange to say, had been kept without salt in our ship since May. . ■ " A great many frostbites occurred at this period, even when the men were walking quickly for exercise, and they were very difficult to heal on account of the extreme cold ; and much injury to the general health of the men was apprehended, from the long confinement necessary for their cure. Mr. Edwards, our medical man, thought SALLAO BEDSij;, 35 the stiff leather of their boots prevented circu* lation; and Captain Parry, in consequence, ordered a pair of canvass boots, lined with woollen stuff, tp be made for every man^ after which there were few frostbites in the feet. " Towards the latter end of December, the weathe crhanged, and the year closed with a nilder temperature than we had experienced for f vo months." Ulu r ,: r CHAPTER IV. " I AM very impatient for you to continue your story, uncle," cried Qbarles, the following evening, when seated as usual at the round table; " and I can assure you, I have heard nothing yet. that should prevent me from still wishing to make a voyage to the Arctic regions," ** And 1 believe you have heard the worst of it, too," continued uncle Richard ; " though in Ja- nuary the severe weather returned, and the scurvy began to make its appearance among us. As this complaint is supposed to arise from salt dry food, we distributed our vegetable soups, lemon- juice and sugar, pickles, preserves, and spruces- beer ; added to which. Captain Parry had a con- stant supply of fresh mustard and cress, which he grew in small boxes in his cabin, placed in a AURORA BOREALIS. V warm situation near the stove-pipe. These are never-failing remedies, and our patients were not long in being cured. •* You may be surprised, perhaps, that you have r heard me mention the Aurora Borealis, a phenomenon which displays itself in the northern regions, and affords some recompense for the annual loss of the sun's presence for so many week >. Hitherto we had been disappointed, having seen only a few faint appearances of it ; but about the middle of January, we were grati- fied by a very brilliant display of it. I should | attempt in vain to convey an idea of the beauty of this magnificent phenoiffenon : the luminous arch, which before we had seen only of a pale light, was now most brilliant, being broken intv> a thousand irregular masses, streaming rapidly in different directions and varying every moment^ sometimes resembling in shape a snake curling itself about, and sometimes a shepherd's crook : it is said that a sound is usually heard from the Au- rora Borealis, but we listened and could hear none. " We now began to watch for the first re-ap- pearance of the sun ; and, for nine days, all on board took their turns to look out for it from the mast*s head ; one person not being able to watch ong together, for fear of suffering from frost- bites. REAPPEARANCE OF THE SUN. 37 '^ At twenty minutes before noon, on the third of February, we saw the sun for the first time for eighty-four days ; we could now see to work on the outside of the ships from eight till four, and delighted enough we ware, to employ our- selves about something useful for the equipment of the vessels. Our first job was to collect stones f^r ballast, for it was calcuhted, fhat the Hecla alone would require, in the spring, nearly seventy tons, to make up for the loss of weight in stores and provisions that had been consumed. We brought the stones down upon sledges about ..alf a mile to the beach, where they were broken to a convenient size, and weighed in scales which we erected on the shore for the purpose. " The coldest season was now approaching, but the animating presence of the sun made us rather imprudent; for instance. Captain Parry was so anxious to enjoy daylight, and to save the candles, that he ordered the stern-windows of his cabin to be uncovered. The cold then became so great, that for several weeks, it was impossible to sit in it without being warmly wrap-, ped up, so that we used to throw off our great coats wl\en we went on deck, and could warm ourselves by exercise, and put them on again when we went down to the cabin. " One day», when the men were running on E 88 CONFLAGRATION OF THE STORE-HOUSE. ) deck for exercise, the house on shore, which you remember we had built to put our clocks, dec. in, was seen to be in a blaze of fire ; officers and men, all ran to extinguish it ; and, by pulling off the roof with ropes, and knocking down a part of the sides, and throwing snow upon thj flames, we succeeded in extinguishing them in about three quarters of an hour, and saved our clocks and other instruments lodged there. After removing these, and covering the ruins with snow, we re- turned on deck till more temperate weather should enable us to dig out the rest of the things : we then had a general muster of the ships' compa- nies, to see that all had put on dry clothes, after which, they were employed in drying the wet ones till dinner. When assembled at the fire, our faces presented a singular appearance, almost every nose and cheek being white with frost-bites, while our medical gentlemen, and two or three others fixed upon to assist them, were going from one to the other, rubbing the affected parts with snow, which, strange as it may seem, is the only remedy in these cases. Notwithstanding such good care was taken, we had sixteen men added to the sick list in consequence of this accident, and four or five men were confined for several weeks. Captain Sabine's servant indeed suffered much more severely; he and Serjeant Martin SNOW BEGINNING TO THAW. 39 were in the house at the time the fire broke out, and, anxious to save the dipping needle, of which they knew the value, they immediately ran out with it into the open air. Captain Sabine's ser- vant had not time to put his gloves on, and in half an hour his hands were so benumbed, that when taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and his hands plunged in cold water, they literally caused the surface of the water to freeze ! And, poor fel- low ! though all that was possible was done for him, he was forced, some time after, to have part of four fingers cut off from one hand, and three from the other. "This adventure will satisfy you, my little fellow, that we had something to endure in this pitiless region ! But what would you have said, if you had witnessed the excessive joy that shewed itself on board our ships, on the first appearance of milder weather ? " It was now March, and we daily watched in hopis of perceiving some change in the snow which surrounded us. *« At length we found that the snow had melted a littje upon the black paint of the Hecla's stern, knd this was a pleasing sight. " We took advantage of these few days of milder weather to rebuild the house on shore, which we accomplished in a very short time. Soon after £ 2 40 SNOW BLINDNESS. V this we performed our last plays, having plenty of work now for the sailors, in preparing the ship for sailing again. The Citizen, and the Mayor of ■ Garratt, were the farces, and our poets composed an address on the closing of the North Georgian Theatre. We were not, however, at present grati- fied with much spring weather ; April passed in the same manner as the former month ; the snow drifted so much, that we were sometimes obliged to dig out the sentries when they were to be relieved. It was not till the second week in May when a ptar- migan was killed, and the first tracks of reindeer and musk-oxen were traced ; proofs that they return from their migration during this month. We had now constant daylight, the sun never disappearing below the horizon. When the birds became more plentiful. Captain Parry ordered that they should be given to the invalids, and the ' game laws ' were again issued : by which all the game caught became public property, and were served out the same as other food, without any dis- tinction between the officers and the men. '^ In consequence of going out to shoot so milch, a new disorder was introduced among us, which is, in cold countries, called * snow-blindness.* It eauses a sensation as if dust or sand were thrown into the eyes, and is cured by the Indians by THE ICE CUT AWAY FROM THE SHIPS. 41 holding the eyes over a steam from warm water. We found a preparation of lead, mixed with cold water, a certain cure ; but, in order to prevent its recurrence, every man was provided with a short black crape veil to wear when he went out.' Charles. You must have looked like a band of ruffians in disguise, uncle. " I suppose some of our officers thought so, for they contrived something instead ; and this was a pair of spectacles with black or green crape in the place of the glasses, which were found to heat the eyes. " Towards the middle of May, we began to cut away the ice round the ships. To our joy we found it to be only six feet thick, although in the middle of the harbour it averaged four and twenty feet : this was partly owing to the thick snow which had covered it, and partly to our having cut round the ships daily as long as we could at the begin- ning of the winter. We began our operations by digging a large hole under the stern, in order to enter the saw: this alone occupied us two whole days. A few men only could labour at ^ this ; while the rest of the crew were employed in clearing away the snow and rubbish from the ship's side, and in cutting a trench, with axes, two feet wide and four feet and a half in depth, by which means they left only eighteen inches for the saws to work upon. E 3 ^ ^ "' '" ■ ; 4f THE SHIPS CLEARED. ' ** Thfe saw being entered in the hole, under the stern, was worked in the usual manner, and small pieces of ice were occasionally broken off by hand- spikes and ice-chisels, and hooked out piece by piece. " This cold and tedious operation lasted nine days ; on the tenth, the ship suddenly disen- gaged herself from the ice, and was once again * launched,' as our sailors were pleased to call it. " An examination now took place of our stores and provisions, and the Griper was supplied with her allowance, which the Hecla had carried for her. Our ships' crews were all alive : some of us were busied in breaking stones for ballast ; others were occupied in getting out the sails and boats ; carpenters, armourers, coopers, and sail-makers, all were at their work, bustling and busy ! " As for my employment, or rather amusement, I defy you to guess what it was. I laid out a lit- tle garden, and planted it with radishes, onions, ' mustard, and cress. But, alas 1 notwithstanding all my care and attention, when the erid of July came, my radishes were only an inch in length, and my other seeds failed utterly. Not even a singlfi crop of mustard and cress could be raised in the open air, and we were obliged to be con- tent With what could be grown in Captain Parry's cabin, wliei^ they could always be raised without difficulty. Some common store peas, however. - / VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 43 were found to thrive ; and if we had discovered this sooner, we might at least have cultivated a quantity of the leaves of this plant, which, boiled as greens, would have been a great treat to persons like us, who had been without fresh vegetables for more than ten months." " And all this time, uncle," asked Tom, " were you without the sight of one green field or tree?'* " Indeed, Tom, we were," answered uncle Ri- chard: " but towards the latter end of May, the brown soil of the country shewed itself in patches: here and there, too, we discovered roots of sor- rel among tufts of moss, and with joy we hailed the appearance of this plant, which is a valuable preventive and cure for the scurvy j but there were as yet no leaves upon it. " If you remember, Tom, it was September, and the winter was set in, when we sheltered ourselves within this memorable harbour : we had therefore no opportunity of knowing what were the pro- ductions of the country we were near. Hitherto all had been wrapt up in one white r in tie of snow : the Table Hill was the most distaai object we had explored, and its surface appeared to be composed of sand and masses of lime-stone, white and brown, and disagreeable to the smell when broken. The Table Hill itself was about five miles from the harbour, and formed a con- 44 A FALL OV SAIN. spicuous object. In our excursion thither, we found a little pool of fresh water, of melted snow, with which we filled a bottle : it was the first tbat we had seen since September, and was a sign to us of an approaching thaw. On the 34th, we felt a few drops of rain, and the same evening were agreeably surprised with a smart shower, which was succeeded by several others. To see water in a fluid state at all, and to see it falling from the heavens, was to us so remarkable, that I be- lieve every soul of us was on deck to witness this phenomenon. This rain mrde little pools upon the ice, which remained fourteen days without being frozen. Two ivory gulls were reported to be seen upon the same day." « CHAPTER V. Every thing now being in order within the ships. Captain Parry felt anxious to explore the country before he left it ; and he therefore deter- mined upon making an expedition on land till the ice would set the ships free. You may be assured that I was among the numerous volunteers to accompany him. We were twelve of us al- together, and were supplied with provisions for three weeks. Two tents, formed by blankets spread across pikes, with stones laid upon the LAND EXPEDITION. 45 foot of the blankets, made us a comfortable and portable shelter. These tents, our provisions, and a conjuror or cooking apparatus, were carried upon a strong, but light cart, built on purpose. " Each officer and man was furnished with a blanket made into a bag, with a drawing string at the end, a pair of spare shoes and stockings, a flannel shirt, and a cap to sleep in. We carried our clothing and blankets in knapsacks on our backs, and three men attended us on our first day's journey, to help us in carrying our luggage. " We determined to travel as much as possible in the night, if any part of the twenty-four hours could be called night, when, as you know, the sun never was below the horizon. This we fixed upon, partly to avoid the full glare of the sun upon the snow, and partly that we might have the advantage of sleeping during the warmest part of the twenty-four hours. " We left the ships amidst the cheers of the men, accompanied by a party of officers, who wished to relieve us of the load of our knapsacks for an hour or two. At eight in the evening, our companions left us, and we journeyed on, finding here and there some dwarf willows, sorrel and poppy roots, and moss in great luxuriance. Socoi after midnight, we came in sight of an extensive plain, with not a spot to break its uniformity, till 46 A SOCIAL REINDEER. it terminated in a range of lofty hills, which we had before seen from a distance and had named the Blue Hills, from their colour. At six in the morning, we pitched our tents, and, in the course of the day, we killed seven ptarmigans, two plo- vers, and two deer." " Did you find the deer very wild, uncle ?'* asked Tom. ** In general, very much so ; but in our next night's journey. Captain Sabine and myself, hav- ing walked faster than the rest, had seated our- selves to wait for them, when a fine reindeer came trotting up to us, and played around us for a quarter of an hour." *' I hope, uncle," cried Charles^ " you were not savage enough to kill him ?" " Why, Charles, we had no gun ; and we knew that the cart was heavy enough already for the men to drag; and, indeed, the poor animal seemed to place so much confidence in us, that neither of us would have felt disposed to make him so ill a reward. " When he heard our people talking on the other side of the ravine, he ran up to them with- out caution, and they, less scrupulous than we, fired one or two shots at him. Happily they were without effect, upon which he returned to us; and when we got up and walked on, he trotted GENERAL APPEARANCE OF THE ISLAND. 47 by our side like a dog, sometimes getting before us, and then coming back. When the rest of the party came up, he trotted off." " The pictures of reindeer, uncle," said Tom, " made me fancy them to be much more beautiful animals than I found to be the case, when I went, last Spring, to see one exhibited in London." ''Its fine branching horns are a great ornament to them, Tom; and probably the one you saw was without them. But it is by no means a graceful animal ; its high shoulders, and awkward stoop in its head, gives it rather a deformed ap- pearance. Our new acquaintance had no horns, was of a brownish colour, with a black saddle, a broad rim of black round his eyes, and very white about the tail. ; - . « " It is impossible to imagine any thing more dreary than our journey continued, over one level plain, where for an hour together not a spot of uncovered ground could« be distinguished. The few patches of this kind that we did meet with were most welcome, for they not only relieved us for a time from the intense glare of the sun upon the snow, which was most oppressive to our eyes, but it was on these alone that we could pitch our tents, or expect to find any water. A brisk wind rising up, our men, as if determined not to forget they were sailors, fastened a large blanket upon A-'^r. FOURTH OF JUNE. ■ "* the cart In the manner of a sail, which helped it on amazingly. " The moment our tents were pitched, every one was ordered to change his shoes and stock- ings, and had his feet examined. We could only dry our articles of dress at noon, and therefore after our midnight ha king we were obliged to put wet ones on again, which, as you may imagine, was far from agreeable. " One day, as we were travelling on, we came to some large stones sticking upright, and as the men were much fatigued, and Captain Parry was afraid to let them lie upon the ground, he pro- posed that we should pick out these stones one by one, and pave a spot for our tents to be pitched upon. After an hour's work, we made a famous floor, dry, though rather hard. This was our dinner-time ; and, as it was the fourth of June, we loyally drank the health of his Majesty in both tents, not knowing at that time that our venera- ble King George the Third was dead. • ' " As several of our party were beginning to be affected with snow-blindness, you may guess what a comfort it was to perceive before us a stripe of black or uncovered land, the bank of a ravine. We pitched our tents on the north side of it ; and, after removing some heaps of sand-stone, found abundance of pure water, which tempted ^jg^H^^ EXCURSION TO POINT N IAS. 49 US to cook the grouse we had killed, and we made a famous supper before we lay down to rest " After leaving this ravine, we came to another plain of snow; and beyond it lay some high land^ which v/e discovered to be a separate island, and we named it Sabine Island. " Captain Parry, accompanied by Mr. Nias and Mr. Reid, then left the party, in order to examine the sea to the north, after seeing us all saiely encamped behind a wall which we had built to protect us from the weather, many of us being great sufferers from snow blindness. They travelled till they gained the summit of a point eighty feet in elevation, V/hich they named Point Nias ; and Captain Parry, being anxious to dis- cover whether it was the sea, proposed that we should remove our encampment thither. The party accordingly returned to us, dined, and then we all set out to the Point, which we were some time in reaching, on account of the depth of the snow, which made it almost impossible to take the cart along. It froze all day, and we found it extremely cold. Our people were allowed to rest after supper, and then we all set to work to build a monument upon Point Nias. " Here we found nothing living except a flock of ducks, none of which we killed : some stunted moss alone deserved the name of vegetation. 50 A MONUMENT SET UP. \ •J ** Our monument was completed in about two hours, and I should hope that it will last for many years, as Mr. Fisher took great pains in building it. It is twelve feet high, and may be seen at several miles distance ; within it we poi a tin box containing aii account of our par?:y, ana one or two English coins. , ,.,, ^ , ,.^1, ,. r.;" As we had reached the eastern extreniity of Melville Island, we now pursued omr jonrriey to the Blue Hills, which we soon entered upon, nml were glad to be relieved from the samenes?; of travelling a,lv/,iys upc»n a flat surface. We met with a small running stream, the first -we had seen this season, passed a few deer's horns, and killed some ptarmigans and ducks, '^fhe plu- mage of the cock grouse still continued white, except near the tip of the tail, where the fea- thers were of a glossy black ; but the hen changed from day to day and was becoming speckled : the snow-bunting, too, cheered us by its lively note, and reminded us of a better country. ' i?'* We now arranged our baggage so as to carry it on our shoulders for the remainder of the journey, and chopped up the wood of our cart for fuel. Some ptarmigan, therefore, w^ere cooked, and we had another sumptuous supper ; which you, who have not lived on cold provisions in a rigid climate, can scarcely imagine how much we enjoyed. \^^-^ liddon's gulf. ' 51 " After crossing an arm of the sea, wliich we named Liddon's Gulf, and travelling in various directions, we returned to the point, where we determined to stop a whole day, for the purpose of sporting, and examining its natural produc- tions. The first animal our sportsmen met with was a musk-ox, which wos feeding on a fine pas- ture ground. They fired at him w ithout wounding him, and he galloped off to the hills. The musk- ox is an ill-proportioned little animal; his hair is so long that he treads it under his feet, which appear too small. When disturbed and hunted, he tears up the ground with his horns, and looks round at his pursuers, though without attempting to attack them. r " I had the good luck to fall in with a large herd of deer; three of them only had horns, and these were larger than the others, and always drove the others on when they attempted to stop. One or two mice were caught, which had been white, but were beginning to turn brown. We found the holes and tracks of these little creatures in every part of the island. Serjeant Martin ran after one, which, finding no hole near, put himself against a stone as if trying to defend himself, and bit the Serjeant's finger when he took hold of him. " Here, too, we discovered the remains of Esqui- maux huts, and they appeared to have been re- F 2 52 RETUI^N TQ THE SHIPS. , \ cently deserted) although it is not likely that the Esquimaux would often take up their abode on Melville Island, where the summer season is so short that there is scarcely time to lay rp a store for winter. . " Finding nothing more of interest to detain us» we determined upon journeying homewards across the I'able Hills. On the top of the highest of these hills we erected another monument, and likewise put into it a box containing an account of our visit. From the summit of this hill we looked anxiously to the sea, hoping to perceive open water ; but, alas ! nothing of the kind was to be seen. We then set forward for Winter Har- bour, which we reached, and received a most hearty welcome from our brother sailors, who were all well, and who complimented us upon our robust looks." a CHAPTER VI. " The party at the ships had been going on very quietly in our absence : shooting had beCjU their chief sport ; and they had been gratified by t;he sight of some very beautifu^ rainbows^ a phenomenon exceedingly rare in those cold cli- mates, where the sun has little power. " You remember that I told you what pleasure the sight of the sorrel root$ had afforded us : they RttOOTlNO PARTIES. 63 now began to put out their leaves, and Captain Parry gave directions that two afternoons should be devoted by the men for gathering them, and that they should be used instead of lemon-juice and pickles. When more plentiful our men went daily to gather them, and they were dressed at the messes, and eaten as sallad, or pickle, or boiled as greens, or made into puddings." '.'-'. *. Tom. Is the sorrel used in England, uncle Richard? . ..i " But little, Tom ; it is, however, occasionally used as a medicine; but in France it is cultivated, in order to be put into salads. Among the Lap- landers, the free use of the sorrel leaves is con- sidered the only cure for scurvy ; and I can safely say, that the crews of the Hecla and Gri- per owe the good health they enjoyed at this period to the unlimited use of this fresh vegeta- ble substance, so bountifully supplied by the hand of Nature. " Lieutenants Beechey and Hoppner were sent, with a small party of men each, up the country to procure r^ame. They took with them provisions, tents, blankets, and fuel, and were charged to bring word when the ice should be seen to move or thaw ; they soon sent us in some deer, and in a few days* time, the welcome intelligence that the pools upon the surface of the ice were increasing, F 3 64 DEATH OF A SlpAMANr ^ough as y^t there was no appearance of the icA breaking up. Lieutenant Beechey returned from his excursion at the la,tter end of June, and re* ported) that the ice to the east was more thawed ^han at Winter Harbour, and tliat he had observed several cracjks in it; large enough for a small boat to pass; he told us, (oo, tbat the deer were become very wild, but that he had succeeded in killing one, by lying dov^n and imitating the voice of a fawn, upon which the deer came within gun-shQ( of him. Lieutenant Hoppner returned soon after, and reported that the ice was in motion, which was soon confirmed, by our observing a large field of ice flojating to the eastward, at the rate of a mile an hour. ** Wii had now the misfortune to lose one of our seamen, who h&d beien long ill, and whose com* plaint gr)?<]uiii]ly increased, notwithstanding the skill and care of onr medical man. " On the following Sunday, after divine service, poor Scptt was burie<|; we walked in procession to Iris grave, whick was dMg on a level piece of ground ne^ the b^ach ; the Hags were lowered^ afid every man and cfficer attended the remains of o^r unfortunate shipmate to his grave : the so-r lemnity of the burial service, and the peculiarity of pur situation, made it a very in^pressive scene^ Ji ](i^ tpmbstone was afterwards placed at the PJiEPABATIONS FOR SAILING. 66 head of the grave ; and the naiiic of the deceased was carved upon it by Mr. Fisher. .♦ '< The snow now was gradually disappearing ; Uie waters, which had flowed in torrents down the ravioes, were become passable ; the ice was thaw^ ing, and we looked forward at length to being once again at liberty to continue our discoveries. BiUt it was already the middle of July, and we could not reflect without pain on the shortness of the season, before winter would again return to byry us once more in snow and ice. i lu '' Our ships had been ready for sailing some days; our hunting parties were recalled, and, desp* rous to make a move from a spot, on which we.had most unwillingly passed nearly ten months (and long ojQes they had appeared to us), we weighed anchor on the 25th of July, at half past two Q*clQck> Our progress at first was trifling, but on the last day of the month the wind changed,^ and the whole body of ice in the harbour was perceived to be slowly moving out to the south- east, breaking away at the points which ibrm the entrance of the harbour. As we were on the point of sailing once more, Captain Parry left instructioos with the Griper in case of separation ; and aftf^r embarking our clocks, tents, and observatory, we took our leave ov^ Winter Harbour on the annivep- sary of that day xm which we had, the preceding 56 DEPARTURE FROM MELVILLE ISLAND. year, began our discoveries, at the entrance vi Sir James Lancaster's Sound. • " We soiled round Point Hearne, and steered to the west, but the wind was against us, and the broken pieces of ice obstructed us much : added to which, it was found that the Griper sailed worse then ever, and detained us at least seven miles a day. This, in the short season which we had to look forword to, was a great inconvenience, and we began to have serious thoughts of taking in the Griper's crew, and finishing the voyage in the Hecla alone. We continued coasting, and frequently landed to gather sorrel, and what little game we could find. We then passed the place where we had been detained so long lust Sep- tember, and where Mr. Fife and his companions were so nearly lost; and we recognized as an old acquaintance the berg to which we had been anchored, as well as the pile of stones we had erected on the hill above it. When we reached Cape Providence, we could perceive that there was a free and open channel beyond the western extremity of Melville Island, but the want of a breeze vexatiously prevented us from pushing on as we anxiously wished. i^ ' " Beyond Cape Hay we were again stopped by the ice, and were forced to secure the Hecla in the best birth we could find for her. < i MUSK-OX. 57 ** We noticed, on the land near this place* what appeared to us to be a high wall, built with large stones, and Captain Sabine went to examine it. He found it to be composed of sand-stones, and formed by the washing away of the rock and earth aside of it. Large flocks of glaucous gulls had chosen it as u secure retreat from foxes, and these birds were so fierce in defence of their young, that, until a few shots had been fired, it literally was not safe to approach them. " The ice continued very troublesome* the floes perpetually threatening us, and absolutely preventing us from stirring. A musk-ox came near enough to be shol;, and it afforded us excel- li^nt foo(|." ** Is its flesh like beef, uncle?'' asked Charles. *^ The flavour is peculiar ; but it appeared, as it hung up, as fine beef as could be seen in an English market. A small seal, too, was caught and eaten by the Griper's crew, who declared that it was tender and good, though it did not look so, being of a red colour. " On the ninth of August, the body of ice, which had been within a quarter of a mile of us was seen to advance, and soon after a piece of a floe which was between it and the Hecla, received the whole pressure of it as it came in. It split in several directions with a great crash, and we pre- 58 DANGERS FROM THE ICE. sently saw a part raised slowly and majestically, and deposited oh another part of the floe from which it had broken. The ice where it had split was of a fine bluej transparent, and quite solid. ** • " The mass of ice which had been lifted in this manner having drifted to us the next day, we mea- sured it, and found it to be forty-two feet in thick- ness, which you know was prodigious. This gave us very serious reflections. In fact we were convinced that the icy sea to the south-west of Melville Island, was peculiarly unfavourable to navigation. We had arrived here, as you may remember, in September 1819, after a strong north-west wind, which alone can be expected to open the ice in this quarter, and here again we were obstructed the following August, after finding a clear sea all the first fifty miles from Winter Harbour. The ice not only was of increased thickness, but it pressed so closely together that no opening was afforded. * -^«^' - /^ ;'jv " Our situation indeed was very dangerous : every detached piece of ice that drifted to us gave our ship a shock which its strength alone enabled it to support. The Griper was forced on shore again, and nearly lost, and we were hourly contemplating a similar fate for the Hecla. The wreck of both ships appeared inevitable, and the officers were assembled on board the Hecla tp \ THE WESTERN COURSE ABANDONED. 59 consult upon what should be done; a sudden change of wind, however, relieved us for a time from our fears, and allowed us to gain a situation of tolerable security. " The dangers, and the certainty that we could not proceed far westward in this latitude, deter- mined Captain Parry to watch for an opening in the ice to steer southward a little ; and accordingly we put back to Cape Providence, where, the ice being more close than before, our ships were no longer manageable. They received most terri- ble shocks ; and, being in danger of becoming ' beset' at sea, we made our way to the largest piece of grounded ice we could find, to which we fastened ourselves. - . :• " These vexatious delays, and the constant danger which attended the ships, disheartened us much, for already half the navigable season was past. Our captain thought he could scarcely be justified in persevering in the attempt to get westward, and he addressed a letter to all the offi- cers, requesting their advice upon the subject. " Now, Charles, you look very serious; what do you think of the matter ? " - * • . ' :> " Why, uncle, I am not for returning yet, till you have tried navigating a little to the south. And I want to know, whether your stock of provisions and your coal would hold out? " &§ EXAMINATION OF STORES, &C. "Very tl-ue, my boy, every thing should be taken into consideration ; for the health and lives of many brave men depend upon the judicious conduct of their commander. An examination was accordingly made of our stores and provisions, and it appeared that they would at the present allowance last till November 1821, and if a greater reduction were made, they would last till the end of the following April ; our fuel could be made to last to the end of November 1821, but only by taking in the Griper's crew to live on board the Hecla for six of the winter months, and that would be a very unhealthy plan. Our ships, to be sure, were nearly as good as when we left home, and our men were all healthy. " However, the officers sent in their answers; and they all were of one opinion, that it was in vain to attempt to penetrate farther west, but that it would be desirable to look out for an opening in the ice southward, and to endeavour to reach the northern shores of America ; and in case that plan should fail, or be delayed too long, that it would be best to return to England. " You do not look so much disappointed as I expected, Charles, and therefore I suppose you are fully impressed with the necessity we all felt, of acting according to the dictates of sober reason, rather than of following inclination, which might \ HOMEWARD VOYAGE. ' 61 perhaps have induced some of the adventurous spirits among us to endure the rigours of another winter, rather than return baffled of our hopes, and disappointed of our reward. " But to continue my narrative : we soon dou- bled Point Hearne, and passed Bounty Cape ; there we observed that the snow which fell during the day did not thaw ; a proof that the glass was below freezing point, and that another long and dreary winter was beginning. " The channel, however, increased in width ; and when we had sailed eight miles beyond the eastern point of Melville Isle, we could perceive that it was ten miles across. We kept close to the edge of the ice, in hopes of finding an opening to the southward, but not a single break could be discovered. '• • - " It was a singular fact, that we arrived within four or five miles of the same spot where we had been on the same day and at the same Lour the year before ; and that the ships were forced, as they had been then, to steer by one another, fo^' want of a better mode of knowing in what direction they were driving. The fog froze hard upon the rig- ging, and made it difficult to handle the ropes. *' You may trace us now, as we pursued our route without many adventures, passing Cape Cockburn in Bathurst Isle. The ice to the south- ^^ VARIOTTS DISCOVERIES. ward was compose^ of large floes, oftea without a craok for many miles together, and their surface as smooth and glassy as a bowling green. We found, however, that the ice was leading us to the north of Garrett Island, instead of the south, which we had passed the preceding year, find which was now completely blocked up by ice. ''In passing between Garrett and Bathurst islands, we found a n^w one, whicb we named Baker Island; and in the night we passed twa other small ones, which Captain Parry named suc- cessively Brown and Somerville Islands. Corn- waliis and Giriffith Islands we left to the north,, and took a southward direction, hoping to find a^ passage to the w^st of Cap^ Bunny. 3ut our hopes were again disappointed ; the ice was as> compact here as in every other place, aijd no resource was left us except to steer on to the east. " We had now an opportunity of examining, the land to the south, of which we had as yet only taken a distant glimpse, and of naming all its most prominent pcints: Cape Bennell was called after Major Rennell, the ablest geographer of the age. We then crossed Garnier Bayj and soon came to Cape Clarence, which is ifes most, easterly po^nu The land along which we had )ust been sailing, Captain Parry named North. Spmer^st^ in honpur of his natlvje comity ; ^^4 I RESTORATION TO FULL ALLOWANCE. 6^ to the tioi^theth sh6J»e of BaWow's Strait, he gave the hattiG of North Devon, in honour of that of his brother commandei', Lieutenant Liddon. " Thus we had traced the ice for twenty-fOur degrees, without finding any opening by whidi \v/j might hope to penetrate to the southward, and therefore it was thought advisable to return at once to England, to give an account of the disco- veries we had made, and, if his Majesty should think fitj to be ready to continue them another seiasont. ' ''■' ^•■•^ ^ ■"- ■ -'- '-■'" *^ After this determination, we had again our full allowance of proviaons, and what we all thought of more, a sufficient supply of coals, for we had felt the want of these ever since our entrance into Sir James I^ancaster's Sound. i^' j " We sailed briskly across to Gape York, pai^sed iEardley Biay, Cape Graufurd, Admiralty Inlet, Cape Franklin, and Cape Charles Yorke, all of which ^ots were new to us, and were named as we passed them. Navy Board Inlet, and Cape Castlereagh, we had discerned and named tlie pre- ceding year; and We had again a distinct liew of the lofty Byam Martin Mountains, whose summits are clothed in perpetual snow^ As we approached Possession Bay, we encountered several long low icebergs, three quarters Of a mile in length, flat and even at the top. These are peculiar to the western G 2 64 WHALERS IN BAFFIN'S BAY. coast of Baffin's Bay. We also saw a large bear swimming towards the ships, and despatched our boats in pursuit of him, but without success. " Anxious as we now were to get home, we would not even land in Possession Bay, but took our leave of the flag staff on its mount, and pur- sued our course down the western coast of Baffin's Bay. We were anxious to explore this coast, from an idea that it might become an useful whale- ing station ; judge then of our astonishment, when we spied at a distance some whalers making towards the land. It now seemed clear that they had been here before us ; anc" the reason of our meeting so few whales in Sir James Lance.ster's Sound was afterwards accounted for, by, the cir- cumstance of the fishing ships having previously cleared them. , r- ■ ^ ; A'f^\ ' f , '^. " Not long after, we met another fishing ship from England, and held the fh:st com *nunication with our countrymen, from whom we he rd of the death of King George ths Third. -j ," The master of the vessel told us that he had met with some Esquimaux a the River Clyde inlet ; and, thinking it would be a good thing to communicate with these people, we made for land. - ^ ^^ • ' " We proceeded along the sandy beach of this inlet, when we observed four canoes pad- ESQUIMAUX OF CLYDE 1)7LET. 65 dling towatxls uS) and heard the Esquimaux making a great noise. By their own desire^ their canoes were taken on board ; and how you would have laughed, Charles, if you had heard their increased vociferations, and beheld their surprise and joy. There were one old and three young men ; and when they had any present made to them, or saw anything which excited fresh admiration, they set up a fresh noise, until they were quite hoarse and out of breath : and this was accom- panied too by incessant jumping. Lieutenant Beechy wanted to take a likeness of the old gentleman, whom we persuaded to stand upon a stool, and by putting on a demure look, which the old fellow directly mimicked, we managed to keep him tolerably quiet. We gave each of them some presents, and exchanged things with them, and they went home highly delighted. " As we wished to see a little more of the habits of these Esquimaux, we went on shore to them r they met us, and brought witii them some pieces of whalebone and seal-skin dresses for barter, but were very cautious to shew only one thing at a time, and when they had got something in ex6liange for it, they returned and brought another ; and so on. They seemed to have great ideas of fair and honest dealing ; and in order to encourage that feeling, Captain Parry would not G 3 ms-^^-\-- ^t 66 . ESQUIMAUX OF CLYDE INLET. allow any present to be made to them till all the purchases were concluded. " The old man was very inquisitive, par- ticularly about things of the useful kind. The young man was in raptures at the sight of a looking-glass, and jumped about for a quarter of an hour ; while' the old man, giving one smile at the sight of his queer old phiz, turned his attention to the tin canister of preserved meat, most earnestly watching the manner in which it was opened; this was with a mallet, which he begged very earnestly to have when it was done with, without ever asking for the meat. Their canoes are very difficult to ba- lance; and we were pleased to observe the younger man carefully assist the old one in launching, f " We visited the two Esquimaux tents, and as soon as we came in sight of them, every living animal, men, women, children, and dogs, set up one uproar ; the only words we could distinguish being ' pilletay' (give me). Though they were begging all the time we were with them, we did not find them at all inclined to dishonesty ; and we purchased a variety of things from them, and, among others, my fine fellow of a dog there, Charles, which you have such a fancy to beg from me. I offered an axe for one of the dogs, and I gave it to a woman, who was the owner of several, before I received the dog, to shew her THE ARCTIC CIRCLE RECR088ED. 67 that I trusted to her honesty ; and she went and picked out for me the finest among them. " These Esquimaux were all very little, with round plump faces, and not very dark complexions. The dresses of the men and women are much alike, being composed chiefly of seal-skins. Their tents are formed by one long strip of whalebone covered with skins, and fastened to the ground by crooked pieces o*^' bone. Their dogs, I need scarcely tell you, resemble wolves, and are voracious enough. " "We took leave of these people with a favour- able impression of their honesty and cleanliness, when compared with the Esquimaux whom we had met with in former voyages. The inlet of the River Clyde is a very magnificent one, and after exploring it with considerable interest, we once again sailed southwards. The ice and fog were very troublesome in the middle of Baffin's Bay ; and we had a series of adventures, similar to those we had experienced in sailing up it, but we were now more experienced, and were steer- ing homewards, which enabled us to bear up bravely in the midst of our trials. / >: ,< r '; ^ ;> V " September the 24th, we crossed the Arctic Circle, having been within it more than fourteen months ;, and after that, finding the state of the ice "•vould prevent us from continuing to explore the coast, we hoisted in our boats and made the 68 . . ARRIVAL IN GREAT BRITAIN. ships snug) in order to s hape our course to Eng- land." u^ , ** Pray let me . .k you, uncle, before you quite reach home, whether you are really of opi;jion that a passage will ever be effected from Baffin's Bay to Behring's Strait?" asked Tom, who always liked to have every thing clearly arranged in his mind. . ' ;. r; . > << I feel no doubt that there is a continuance of sea between them ; and if land could be met with all the way, it mightbe navigated, but not, I fear, other- wise. The obstructions from the ice increase so much towards the middle, that if that barrier could be passed, I should hope the rest might be effected, notwithstanding the short season for sail- ing there, and the rigours of the climate. At all events^ the aiti ^iipts already made have not been utterly uwK'k;j yince the whale fishery is con- siderably extended in consequence of them. " We had no more adventures, but were favour-^ ed with some very fine appearances of the Aurora Borealis. We took leave of the Griper on the 2d of October, reached Scotland on the 29th, and I was here, my boys, to receive your hearty wel- come on the 3d of November, 1820." . .1 \ I i:*%# .1 -^S.T r*.' PART 11. CHAPTER I. ,' Uncle Richard had gone liis second voyage with Captain Parry, and his return w? \nxiously awaited by Tom and Charles, be tl ' ti had been left behind, notwithstiindin^ ould willingly have accompanied him. Chuiies, .ndeed, was too young; but his active and enterprising mind made him particularly well suited to the life of a sailor, preparing himself for which occu- pied all his thoughts. His little ship Hecla had long since given way to one of larger dimensions, which, made under thu auspices of Uncle Richard, was an exact model of the real Hecla ; this he generally kept secured in a dry dock, which he had built in a recess of the large pool near the house, and every now and then the sails were un- furled, and the breeze was allowed to waft it across the water. His constant companion was the Es- quimaux dog, which his uncle had left as his especial charge, and which was so far tamed as to know how to obey the voice of his young master, although he still was a terror to all strangers. Tom had made another short cruize, and had ^^^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. 1.0 ^Bg I I.I 11.25 2.5 U, 1^ . .. I£ 1.4 I 2.0 ^ ~ 6" 7 9. Photographic Sciences Corporation '^'^^ 23 WiST MAIN STRUT WEBSTER, N.Y. M5S0 (716) 872-4S03 K ^ ¥ o . o^ 70 CAPTAIN FRANKLIN S EXPEDITION. added to his store of information much valuable knowledge. Nothing escaped his observation; and when his curiosit}' was once excited, he had no rest until he had learned fdl he could upon the sub- ject of it. He had never felt more interested than by his uncle Richard's narrative ; and every book in the study had been seanched throu^ And through, for accounts of ftorthetn ladveiitnfeiis. January, 1^24, bitjught tit) news t)f nnde Hichard; but t)ur youtiiftil sailots were summoned by their father, to heat the adventures lof Captain Franklin, ivho had been sent out to make disco- veries on the northern coast x)f America. r^'^ Imust tell yt>u,** said their father, who hittl«. iself undertook to relate these adventures to his «>trs, ** that the object of this expedition was to visit the mouth of the Gopperniine River, in North America^ and from thence to trace out the northern coast in an easterly direction; to correct the geography of that part of the world, and to gain such information as to the bays, harbours, ^nd rivers of that shore, as might be useful to "Captain Parry, or any f\]ture voyager. ^'Captain Franklin was accompanied by Dr. flichardson, Mr. Back, Mr. Hood, and James Hepburn, a faithful English seaman ; the whole party embarked at Cravesend, on board thePrince of Wales, on the I^Sd of May, 181^, This ship MI$AI>V£^TURE AT YARMOUTH. t^ b^loQged to. the Hudson's, Bay trading company, ^4 had f&if it$ ooQAort^ th^ !^ddystoBe and Wear* The wijnd was, ua£ELvoHrable» and they w^n^ obliged to anchor at Yarmouth, where an uahicky incident happened} which damped the spirit^, of the party £:>r a time. The officers had aU gone^ on sfhore at Y^mouth, whenj a favourable galQ- springing up, the commander of the vessel ^uod it necessary to set sail imjoediately, in ordei> to get through the ii^tricaie passage, called the , Coc^legat, before dark; he fired signal gunS) and' his passengers hastened to embark, aXL but Mr* Back? who unfortunately was gone two or three- miles distant, on busine9s,^ong the coast, where; h^ fp^cied he should b^able to watch the first movements of the ships; by some accident^ hoW" e^er,^ this was not the case, and he was left be- hind* The ships had a fair wind, and after pass^. ing.the bold projecting rock called John o'Groat's^ Qous^ s^nchored at Str^unness. '' It was. thought advisiable^ here to engage^ boatmen to accompany the expedition, lest the- party should b^ detained when they arrived iuy ^udsQn's Bay? and therefore a notice for volun- teer boatmen was put^ up on thfs church door of- eyery, parish." Tosf t '' T^koX seems a, singular way of lettivigj ; eople know, papa." -i,^ 72 TRANSACTIONS IN THE ORKNEYS. *' It would by no means be an effectual way in England, Tom ; but in Scotland, the lower classes neverfail in attending divine service every Sunday. '* The notice was given, and the day fixed upon for a meeting, when several men came, but none would promise to attend the service, though some of them said they would consider about it ; and accordingly, the following morning, four men only presented themselves, who, after great hesi- tation, agreed to accompany the party, provided they should be taken no farther than to Fort Chi- pewyan, and sent back to the Orkneys free of expense ; this caution is strikingly different from the conduct of an English sailor, who enters readily into an enterprize, however hazardous, without thought or inquiry. *' Captain Franklin and his companions, having settled this affair, were about to sail, and were in the midst of the gaieties of a ball, when the door opened, and Mr. Back appeared, who ha*' ra- velled by the coach for nine days without v. lop- ping in order to reach them. It seemed, that he came down to the beach near Yarmouth just as the ships were passing, and applied to a boatman to row him to them, who taking advantage of his anxiety to join the ships, asked more money than Mr. Back had about him, and the man con- sequently refused to assist him. \ ray m lasses nday. fixed e, but lough >ut it ; rmen t hesi- )vided t Chi- ree of t from enters rdous, laving rere in e door •a- t ^iop- hat he just as »atman tage of money ,n con- *. % ' DANGERS OF THE NORTHERN SEA. 7$ *< On the 16th of June, the ships weighed an- chor, cleared some dangerous rocks off the Po- mona shore, and entered the Atlantic ; their pro* gress was so slow, that it was the latter end of July before they entered Davis's Strait. '♦ " The ships were not long before they were entangled in a heavy stream of ice, through the narrow channels of which they steered with diffi- culty, for the weather was very foggy ; one of the icebergs was one hundred and forty-nine feet in height, and too soon were our voyagers visited with all the horrors of the region they had enter- ed. The currents ran in strong eddies between tlie masses of ice, and the Eddystone was perceived to be driving rapidly towards one of these masses. The boats of the Prince of Wales and the Wear had been despatched to assist in towing the Eddy- stone clear of the bergs, when the former ship was discovered to be quite unmanageable ; the fog had prevented its crew from seeing which way it was driving, till they beheld a barren ragged shore, within a few yards, towering over their mast heads ; the ship almost instantly struck with vio- lence on a point of rocks, and was brought close to the shore ; the blow displaced the rudder, and, the current forcing the vessel along, an alarming prospect opened to the crew : on one side was a steep cliff, whose summit was hid in fog, and on H u PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE. the Other a small bay, into which the ship was at length tossed. Shipwreck was every moment ex- pected, till another blow from the rocks replaced the rudder, which enabled the crew to take advan- tage of a light breeze, and direct the ship's head away from the cliff; but the breeze was only tran- sient; again was the ship driven on shore, and again rescued by a swell, which enabled the sailors to turn her head once more to the sea, and escape the danger of ship wreck: a few moments only were allowed them to rejoice ; for the current forced the ship violently against an iceberg, and her situation became more frightful than ever ; . all was confusion, the female passengers and children rushed upon deck with fearful looks, in spite .of the endeavours of the officers to keep them below, ; the ship was driven with amazing rapidity along the steep side of the berg, and every one expected that it would be dashed against the rocks, but it escaped this danger most providentially." /^t-^ " Thank goodness it was not the HeclaP'.ex^ claimed Charles. "And now, papa, pray let us hear how the poor consorts fared." ,, "Stop, Charles, answered his papa, for the Prince of Wales is not yet safe: a leak was dis- covered, which let in water very fast. AH hands were employed in pumping, and signals of distress made to the Eddystone, whose commfjinder came cc RESOLUTION ISLAND. 1& on board, and set his men to assist. The leak, notwithstanding, increased, so that both officers and passengers united to bale out the water in buckets; the sails were split, and the ship sur- rounded by ice. The crew were obliged to rest from this severe labour for a short time in the night, but the water next morning was so alarm- ingly increased, that they had to set to work more vigorously than before ; but with very ill success ; and their strength was just failing them when they thought of trying an experiment ; this was of thrusting in felt and oakum, over which they nailed a plank, and before night, to their great joy, the leak was stopped. As they still thought they should be forced to leave the ship, they sent their old women and children to the Eddystone ; but the young women were so active at the pumps, that they were allowed to remain. i: " Their own ship was now in safety ; but when daylight returned the Wear was no where to be found ; and all feared that she had been wrecked on that barren shore." Tom. But, papa, you have not told us what shore it was. *;,.,. '■^ " It was Resolution Island, at the very entrance of Hudson's Strait. !:? - " The ships were now abreast of this island, but did not land here : they proceeded to 3a - «* These people have some ingenuity, consi* \ ,. ■l.^-''" I'm H n •» /<■ * • •>' lb 1 ;onsi« ARRIVAL AT YORK FACTORY. 7T during that they are without iron, and con- sequently without any instruments for working with; the figures of men, women, animals, and birds, carved out of sea-horses' teeth, which the women brought, were not badly executed, though without eyes, fingers, or ears. They took a de- light in mimicking the sounds and gestures of the Englishmen, and laughed amazingly when the Englishmen pronounced any of their words. On the whole, these Esquimaux were very si- milar to those whom Captain Parry had seen, and as great beggars. , << Captain Franklin took leave of this band of Esquimaux, and a favourable gale soon brought our voyagers to the termination of Hudson's Strait. Here they parted with the Eddystone, which was bound to Moose Factory, (as you will find marked on the map, at the bottom of the bay,) and shaped their course across to York Factory, where, to their great delight, they found their long lost consort the Wear. Her adventures were shortly told: a large mass of ice had drifted between the ship and the rock,' and thus providentially saved her; and a fresh breeze had sprung up and enabled her to pursue her voyage. The com^ mander visited the Prince of Wales, and was re- ceived as one saved from the dead* " York Factory, which you will find, Tom^ at the mouth of the Hayes River, is a grand depot -Ha T8 INDIAN TENW. -^ of the Hudson's Bay Trading Company. The principal buildings are in the form of a square^ two stories high, with flat roofs covered with lend; the servants' houses are ranged on the outside, and the whole is fenced by a high mound. It is built on a marshy spot of ground, and the only walk the people have is on a platform, from the buildings down to the pier. •'^ ' *' ** A race of Indians called the Swampy Creesy 'frequent the neighbourhood, and live encamped on the outside; and listen^ Charles, to a new mode, and I think rather an ingenious one, of making tents. These Indians tie a bundle of poles together at the top, spread them out at the base, and cover them with moose skins. The fire is in the middle, and a hole is left at top for the smoke to escape through. These poor wretches were suffering from the evils of measles and hooping-cough, and were too weak to make their usual exertions in the goose-htmt.^* '' Charles. The goose-hunt! What can that mean, papa? *^""^' *< The geese, which flock in great numbers to the northern regions, migrate in the winter, and, ill their road to the south, alight on the extensive flats in the neighbourhood of York Factory, and are hunted by the Indians, who thus supply the traders with their winter store of food. ** >* And now our adventurous little party com« \ DEPARTURE FROM YORK VACTORY. 79 mencecl their voyage up the river into the interior. With the exception of a steersman, they were obliged to be content with the boatmen they h^d brought from Stromness. They found it equally difficult to ptocure an Esquimaux interpreter; but the governor of York Factory promised to send them one the following spring. And, alas I when all their stores were brought down to the beach, it was found the boat would not contain them. The Hour, rice, and tobacco, therefore, were left to be forwarded afterwards ; as the gover- nor assured Captain Franklin that these articles, as well as spirits, could be procured in the interior. » « With a salute of guns from the fort, and three cheers from its inhabitants, they took their leave, in high spirits at the thoughts of their journey. •' " They had not proceeded far, when the crew were obliged to commence tracking, or dragging the boat, by a line, which was tied round their bodies. This tedious process was particularly impleasant, as the men had to walk on a steep bank, made soft and slippery by the rain, and every now and then they met with a tree, which had fallen from the wood above. At sun- set they landed, kindled a fire, around which they ate their supper; and then, dressed in buffalo robes, laid down and slept soundly. " In passing up the river, next day, they 80 HaRTH AMERICAN RITERg^ VRW the spot where a sad event had happened a few years before. Two Indian families, enticed by the flat beach which lay between the river and a cliff, had chosen it for their encampment. They had retired quietly to rest, when the cliff, which was separated from the land, gave way, and, falling over them, buried the whole party under its ruins. '* With much fatigue, our adventurers conti- nued their voyage though their progress was slow, owing to the heavy lading of their boat, and the frequent rapids they met with. ^. . ** To navigate these North American rivers, is very different from any species of navigation you have a notion of, Charles. In the first place, the rapids, which are strong currents of water over rocky bottoms, are very difficult and even danger- ous to pass; besides these, there are every now and then what are called portages, or places through which the boats cannot pass, but must be emptied of their cargoes^ and carried across and reladen at the end of the portage. The Orkney boatmen were very clever in navigating; and their exer- tions were, amazing: they often jumped into the water, to lift the boat over the rocks; and remain- ed the whol^ day in their wet clothes. These men will carry immense loads with the utmost cheerfulness. . ' ?. ; "Winter set in, with a great fall of snow, in A BLAZING FOREST. M the middle of September, and found our travellers pursuing their course down Steel and Hill Rivers till they arrived at a d^p6t on Swampy Lake. From the two only inhabitants of the place they received a supply of mouldy pemmican^ which is buffalo meat dried, pounded, and mixed witli melted fnt. Leaving them to their delicious fare^ Captain Franklin proceeded, when^ lo 1 a blazing forest met his eye." Charles. Why, this is more wonderful than the walking wood, which met William the Con« queror, papa I f^ « Very true, Charles. The Indians make fires in the woods ; but neglect to put them out ; and the woods being quite dry, easily catch the flameS) which sometimeG spread for many miles. • ' *' On the 2d of October, the travellers crossed the White-fall Lake, where they had busy work in carrying the cargoes on their shoulders, and launching their empty boat across several ridges of rock, which separate the water, and cause vari- ous cascades. The rude grandeur of the moun- tain scenery struck them much ; rocks hung over rocks in huge and shapeless masses, while the tor- rent raged at their feet, and the bright green of the mosses, which covered the face of the cliffs, was finely contrasted with the dark pines on the top. " On this spot, they met with a lop sticky or 82 INDIAN LAND-MARK. land-mark, made of a pine-tree stripped of all its branches, except a tuft at the top. " This lop stick is an useful guide to travellers, and is generally made by some ambitious youth, who, getting together a number of young com- panions, treats them with rum, and they in return strip the tree of its branches, and distinguish it with his name. " Captain Franklin here met with a little acci- dent, which will give you some idea, Charles, of the pleasure of walking in that peculiar country. While overlooking the men, a bed of moss gave way under his feet, and he slipt from the summit of the rock into the river, between two falls. After being carried some way down the stream, he caught hold of a willow, till two gentlemen came in a boat to his rescue. '* Nor was the water travelling much less dan- gerous. Sometimes they came to dry channels, which contained only a foot or two of thin mud. A dam alone would render these places naviga- ble ; and here and there they met with one, con- structed by beavers, which, notwithstanding their usefulness, the Indians make a point of destroy- ing, whenever they meet with them. In a single night would these industrious little animals repair the opening that the passage of a boat had made intheirdam. ' Ju vj .•;?;: r 5 -» . <« ,1 a- LAKE WINNIPEG. 83 It was early in October, when Captain Frank- lin landed at Norway House, on the shores of Lake Winnipeg, or muddy water. The water of this lake is in fact very muddy ; and a droll story is told by the Indians to account for it. One of their deities, according to their account, is a very mischievous little fellow, a kind of Robin Puck ; his name Weesakootchast, and he has a good deal of power, which he employs in tormenting. One day, however, an old woman caught him, and took him prisoner; and, calling in a number of other women to help her, they so covered him with mud, that it took all the waters of this great lake to make him clean again ; and the lake has appeared muddy ever sinc€. ' " After crossing this * Muddy Lake,* they reached the ' Grand Rapid * of the Saskatchawan River. The foam of the water, which dashes over the rocks, and forces its way through a nar- row bending channel, forms a very grand sight ; here a flock of pelicans and some brown eagles were fishing, undisturbed by the roaring of the cataract; while some beautiful golden plovers, crossbeaks, and woodpeckers, were fluttering about. A delicate little marmot was caught, which bore in his pouch a store of vetch for winter use. "They crossed, the woods to the top of the * Grand Rapid,* where the scenery was very fine, 84 CUMBERLAND HOUSE FACTORY. and pitched their tents at Cross Lake, wliere their night was enlivened with a most brilliant display of the Aurora Borealis. -« "After travelling in this laborious manner through scenes of wild and desolate grandeur, they were not sorry to reach the depot of the Hudson's Bay Company, at Cumberland House, where Cap^ tain Franklin determined to stop till the winter months were over. It was great enjoyment, to leave their canoes for a time, and travel about in sledges drawn by dogs, who seemed as pleased with the exercise as the men themselves. Th e Indians in the neighbourhood of this depot were in an equal- ly miserable state with those at York Factory; the hooping-cough, hunger, and the measles, making sad havock among them. Illness prevented them from hunting ; and, shocking to relate, instances were mentioned to Captain Franklin of people who had been reduced to the necessity of devour- ing the bodies of their own family, to satisfy their hunger. Another sad thing is, that those who are recovering from their illness give way to such excessive grief and despondency for the loss of ' their wives and children, that they cannot be roused to exertion." ^' ^ ,*» - Tom. I wonder. Papa, that more cannot be done to assist the natives by European traders there. • " It is melancholy, indeed; for if these poor people could be instnicted in Christianity, their cc CHRISTMAS AND NEW-YEAR S DA\S. 85 rliere lliant inner , they Ison's Cap^ winter nt, to )Ut in iwith ians in equal- ly ; the [laking I them stances people *evour- y their rho are such loss of not be )edone lere. e poor their minds would be suppc** d and consoled in the midst of their hardships This must, however, be a work of time ; and, as Captain Franklin states that the present Governor is endeavouring to es- tablish a school for the younger Indians, I hope it may be effected by degrees. " Christmas and New- Year's days were kept up with jollity by this party of Europeans, in the midst of the wilds of America; and a beaver Was sacrificed to their enjoyment, the flesh of which they found very delicate. They were joined in their evening dances by the Canadians. ^* In ^ing their arrangements for the future, Captain Franklin determined upon taking Mr. Back. and Hepburn with him into the Athabasca departments, from whence guides, hunters, and interpreters, could best be procured ; whilst Dr. Richardson and Mr. Kood should remain at Cumbei*land-house till the spring, and then pro- ceed with the stores to Fort Chipewyan. With regard to the Stromness boatmen, it was settled that they should be despatched to York factory, to fetch up the remaining stores, and then return to the coast, to be ready for the first ship that might sail to the Orkneys. • - ^ " Having thtis arranged their plans for the fu- ture» th^ had leisure to study the manners and hitbtta.of diehord^s of Cree Indians, by which the 86 CREE INDIANS. establishment was surrounded. The misery these Indians endured at this time, from the measles and hooping-cough, united with cold and hunger, was extreme. One night, an Indian man came into one of the houses, carrying in his arms the body of a dead child ; he was followed by his wife, and they told a sad tale: they had been out hunting, they said, but had found no food; and, while suffering the pangs of hunger, they had all been taken ill. So accustomed is an Indian to a state of starvation, that they did not dwell much on that part of their sufferings. Their journey to Cumberland-house was a most terrible one; weakened with illness, and often with nothing to eat but a bit of skin, or a few berries, which were, at length, exhausted. For the last four days, they had had nothing whatever to eat, and all their anxious endeavours could not save the life of their child ; it died just as they came in sight of Cumberland- house. The poor parents were inconsolable, the father in particular, who, when food was offered him, threw it from him, exclaming * Oh, my poor child!* <' It must be allowed, that these Cree Indians are improvident and indolent ; but they are not with- out some good feelings, as this anecdote proves: they are hospitable and peaceable. Their faults are easily accounted for; as they are hunters, are rith- ^ves: lults Iters, A CONJUROR THWARTED. 87 accustomed to depend upon chance for their food, they care little for the morrow. They hcwe a habit of boasting, which is, I suppose, to give their enemies an idea of their strength, and are ridiculously fearful of the conjuring powers of their neighbours. There are noted conjurors, whose saying is < I am God-like;' and who delude their countrymen in all manner of ways. One of these mighty conjurors visited Cumberland-house, and gave out, that although his hands and feet should be tied quite fast, yet, that if he were placed in a conjuring-house, he would undertake to summon two or three familiar spirits, who would unloose him. Accordingly, a conjuring- house was made for him, by fastening four willows in the ground, and enclosing them in a hoop at the top : a number of ropes were fastened round his body, by which he was held fast; and a moose- skin was thrown over all, to conceal him. He began a kind of chant; but the Indians, who think much more of the powers of a white man than of those of a spirit, began to fear for him; at last the conjuring-house shook violently. * One spirit at least is gone in to him,' said the Indians ; but, alas! no: it was only the * God-like man' trem- bling with cold, for he had gone in naked. He continued his attempt for a few hours, when, finding no spirits to release him, he reluctantly ' gave up his attempt. The fact was, that when- 88 CUSTOMS OF THE CK££S. ever the Indians had tied the cords, he had found no difficulty in slipping; the noose ; but Governor Williams had tied this knot himself, and took care there should be no trick : after this discovery, the fellow soon contrived to sneak away from the place. " The Cree women are forced to work very hard : they make the huts, dress the skins, cook, and carry all the heavy loads; though when any- thing disables them, the men are not ashamed to assist them. One poor man's wife had lost her feet by the frost, and he was obliged to hunt and do every thing for himself; and in winter he drag- ged his wife and all his stock of furniture fr(%m one encampment to another. *' Both men and women are excessively fcmd of their children, and rarely punish them. Some- times the woman, whose temper is warm, cannot avoid giving a blow or two to her troublesome child; but her heart is directly softened by the roar which follows, and she mingles her tears with those that streak the smoky face of her little dear. *' The manners and customs of the Crees are much changed since their intercourse with Euro- peans, but still they are sufficiently peculiar. " They are allowed two or more wives at a time : and when a young Cree marries bis first wife, he takes up his abode in her father's tent, and hunts for the family; for his second wife, he generally marries the sister of his first, who still « CREE GAMES. 89 remains mistress of the tent. When he has children, he may have a separate tent, if he pleases ; but as long as he remains in his father-in-law's tent, he keeps up very little intercourse with his father and mother-in-law. " The Crees have several games ; one of which is called mitten, and is played with four balls, three plain and one marked ; these four balls are hid under four mittens, and a person is desired to guess which is the marked ball ; if he guesses right, he receives a feather, if wrong he gives one; they have ten feathers, and when one person has got them all in his hand, they begin over again, and divide the feathers equally be- tween the players; and if the same person gets the feathers three times, he has won the game, and receives the stakes. <* They have another game called the platter^ which is more intricate. They take about eight bear's claws, which are covered with lines ; these they shake in a wooden bowl, toss them up in the air, and catch them again; the claws are cut straight at the broad end, and if they happen to stand upright on this broad end when they come down again, they count the lines on the uppermost part, and receive so many counters from the person they are playing with. They likewise play at a game called the crow, I 3 1 1 (( 90 CREE T«lADITlONS. \ in which they have high stakes; these stakes are either tied to a post, in a large meadow chosen for the game, or given into the care of two old men. Two parties prepare for the contest, by being ranged on each side the field, stripped, painted, and armed with a kind of battledore in the shape of the letter P ; the handle of this bat- tledore is of some length, and its head is made of loose net-work, which forms a shallaw bag ; this is called the cross. A ball is thrown up into the air, which each party tries either to knock into the home or goal, or to catch it in the net bag; in the latter case, it is jerked out for some one else to knock it on to the home, and the odier party are just as eager to strike it back ; this kind of battle goes on till one or other of the parties gets the ball into their home, which decides the game. "The ancient traditions of the Crees are so mingled with the stories they have heard, since they have known Europeans, that it is not very easy to get a knowledge of their religious princi- ples; they all, however, believe in a general flood, which, according to their tradition, was caused by the fish who attempted to drown one of their demigpds, with whom they had quarrelled* This demigod, whose name was Woesack-ootchachto, built a ra% on )yhich he embarked all his family. R» LtGMOUS CEREMONIES. ft" with every kind of beast and bird; when the flood had covered the earth a long time, he ordered some water-fowl to dive to the bottom, but they were all drowned, he then sent a musk rat, which returned, bringing with him a mouthful of mud, with which the demigod made a new earth, imi- tating the manner in which rats construct their houses; a little mound of mud first appeared above the water, which continued spreading until it formed an extensive bank, hardened by the sun into a solid mass. This clever little demigod, however, is not very amiable, and the Indians do not sacrifice to him. '^ They have another deity, named Kepoochi* kiCwn, whom they worship, and make offerings ta of all their most valuable things; they repre- sent him by a rough kind of human figure, or by^ tying the tops of willows together: and, though they worship him, they treat him with great free- dom, scolding and threatening him, if he does not give them all the food they want; for they seldom pray for any thing else. " A Cree hunter resolved to dedicate some offerings to this god, and the following was the ce- remony of the dedication. The two wives of the hunter built a temple, or sweating-housej of arched willows, large enough to hold about twelve men ; in shape it was like an oven, and was covered n CREE OFFERING. with moose skins, except on the east side, which was left open, to serve as a door ; a dozen red-hot stones, with a few leaves scattered about them, were put into a hole in the ground in the centre of the tent. All being prepared, the hunter came forward, naked, and holding in his hand an image of the god, rudely carved; this he placed at the upper part of the sweating-house, and pro- ceeded to fasten his offerings round the neck of the image ; a cotton handkerchief, a looking glass, a tin box, a piece of ribbon, and A morsel of tobacco, were the costly offerings which he pre- sented to the god, and for which he had paid as many as twenty skins. While the hunter was thus engaged, many of his brother Indians entered the tent, after undressing themselves, and ranged themselves on each side; the hunter then squatted down on the floor, by the side of his beloved image, and made a speech to it, told it what valuable pre- sents he had made it^ and desired it not to be un- grateful. He then set up a hymn, the chorus of which was, ^ I will walk with god ! I will go with the animal \* in which chorus all the others joined; then he took a pipe filled with tobacco and bar- berry leaves, and moved it slowly round and round over the red-hot stones; the mouth of the pipe was then held to that of the image, then towards the earth, and then, in an equally solemn manner, to NOTIONS OF A FUTURE 8TATE. 93 all the four quarters of the sky ; then he drew a few whiffs from the pipe, passed it to his neighbour, and so on round to the whole party. When the pipe was emptied, the hunter made another prayer to the god, and a hymn followed : water was then sprinkled upon the hot stones, and the attendants closed the temple, by covering it with moose skins. The heat now became intense, not only to the people within, but to the spectators on the out- side, who were all perspiring freely. The worship- pers remained in the sweating-house half an hour, when the covering was thrown off, and the half' stewed beings were exposed to the air. Afler this ceremony was quite over, the sweaters scampered off to the river, and plunged into it. <* With regard to a future state, an old Indian, named Blackfoot, told Captain Franklin, that it was a tradition among them, that the souls of the dead scramble up the sides of a steep rock, on the top of which they find a beautiful plain, with all sorts of game in it, and new tents pitched here and there; they then see the inhabitants, who come up to Kem, and, in new seal-skin dresses, welcome the good to the happy land ; while those who have led bad lives are sent back, and thrown down the steep rock which they had ascended. " Women who have been guilty of infanticide, 94t TATTOOING. or of killing their own children, are never admitted into the happy country, b^t wander about, with branches of trees tied to their legs. They are supposed to be always moaning ; and, in still sum- mer evenings, the screams of the goatsucker are mistaken for the groans of tliese poor women. •> ** The painful operation of tattooing is here practised : the women, in general, are tattooed only in lines, down from the corners of the mouth to the lower jaw; but the men's whole bodies are completely covered with lines and figures. It is considered rather a proof of cou- rage than of ornament; for the operation is very painful, and lasts several days. The lines in the face are made by A kind of &Wl, which pierces the skin, under which is drawn a string dipped in charcoal water. The linos in the body are done with needles set in a frame. A number of bells are fixed to the frame, which, by their jingling, drown the groans of the person who is being tattooed; singing also goes on at the same time. O^^e of the Indians, who had his arm cut off by Dr. Richardson, declared that tattooing was much the most painful operation of the two. " The seeseequay, a kind of rattle, and tb.. Cree drum, are the two musical instruments of the people in the latter they have great faith : an instance may be given in the poor man before 11 ' _ ■ mentic his chi lecive 1 carried "I other < would pany o to leav( «« Pi turts ; of plac «In I must think shoes, f to rese exactly of two each ei endinqj are tille strips, ( They a the ba( SNOW 8HO£8. mentionedi who came to the fort, uiid had lost his chiM; e.wiiausted as he was, he would not leave behind him an enormous drum, wb>ch he carried at his back. ** I could relate to you, my boys, a number of other characteristics of these wild people, whicii would surprise you ; but I am anxious to accom- pany our V jj?;\^ ei * some of whom now prepared to leave Cumberli'.nd-house." ** Papa, i expect some extraordinary adven- tures; for I think they have got into a wild kind of place,'' cried Charles. re CHAPTER 11. *^ In beginning the travels of our countrymen, I must describe their equipment, which you will think somewhat extraordinary. Their snow shoes, for instance, which you must not imagine to resemble the neat leather shoes, which so exactly fit your feet, Charles. They are made of two light bars of wood, fastened together at each end, the front turning up, and the back endin " When they were ou their second day's jour- ney, they met Mr. Isbester, whose employment during the winter is, to follow and find the Indians, and get their furs, in order to send them to England and elsewere. And little do we think of the trouble and danger there is in procuring thi? luxury and ornament ; for it cap hfirdly be called a necessary in our mild climate. He was goijE^ in search of a band of Indians, of whcm nothi»ig had t)een heard for WOLVES* STRATAGEM. ffr fbur'fhdnths; and his only guide for fitiditig them was, that they had promised to hunt in a particular place at a particular time. This place was about six or seven days' journey from the place in which he then was, and he had pro- visions to last him till he dould reach it ; ' but it might happen, as it often had before, that the In- dians had left; or that a fall of snow had hidden their foot marks ; and then where was he to look for a supply of food ? It was not many weeks be- fore, that he, and his servant, and dogs, were four days without food, and were jtist on the point of killing one of the dogs to satisfy their hunger, when he happily met with the Indians. ** Wolves, red-deer, and foxes, crossed the path of our travellers several times. A wolf ])a;ssed dose to a man who was beating a track in the snow, but did not attetnpt to touch him. Wolves are inferior in speed to the red br moose deer, whom they get at therefore by stratageln. When they see a herd of deer grazing tie&r a cliff, they as- semble in numbers, form a crescent, and creep gently, so as not to alarm the deer, till they are quite near them. Wheii they have surrounded them so that the deer cannot esciipe, they set up hideous yelL> whichso terrify these poor animals, that they set ofip fiill speed and are easily driven K 98 ARRIVAL AT CARLTON-HOUSE. down the cliff by their enemies, who then descend at leisure, and devour the mangled carcases. " The country through which Ga,ptain Frank- ^ iin was now travelling was not utterly desolate. Here and there they met with an old deserted house, in which the travellers took up their station for a night, the wolves serenading them without the walls :with their hideous yells. As they approached Carlton-house, their provisions became very scanty, and the dogs were allowed to eat only scraps of burnt leather ; the cold was very great, and, even : whilst walking, they had difficulty in preventing their skin from being frozen. They were delighted, therefore, to reach the good quarters of Carlton- house, where they were hospitably regaled with a hot dish of buffalo steaks. . ^* Captain Franklin was suffering too much from swelled ankles, owing to walking in the heavy snow shoes, to proceed immediately ; Mr. Back and himself, therefore, went to visit the Stone In- dians, who lived in the adjoining plains. The cha- racter of these people is not very pleasing, though their looks are prepossessing ; they are very trea- cherous, and dreadful thieves, particularly of horses, which, they say, were sent by the Al- mighty for the general use of man, and therefore that they have a right to take them wherever they find them. Besides this, they strip defenceless ■^ "1, ^i^lm^6y/i/^7^a^^L \r^ ■"■-'• peop V espe • and how '■ havf on j /■ • prisi rnnr '' of a hair w STONE INDIANS. 99 people, when they meet them, of all their clothes, especially of such as have buttons about them, and leave them to find their way home without, . however cold the weather may be. The traders have such a dread of them, that they keep men on guard while they sleep, for fear of being sur- prised by these people, who do not hesitate to murder when they can. These Stone Indians are of a light copper colour, with a profusion of black hair, on which they string beads, buttons, and small coral bells, the tinkling of which, when they move their heads, pleases these wild creatures. Their features are regular; they are tall and well made, and their dress is neat and convenient. A waistcoat and trowsers of leather cover their body closely, and a buffklo rob« is thrown grace- fully over all. These dresses are cleaned with white mud, a kind of marl, and look bright contrasted with their jetty locks. The quiver hangs behind them, and in their hand they carry a bow and arrow, ready for attack or defence; a bag, orna^ mented with porcupine quills, and filled with ma- terials for lighting a fire, a calumet or pipe, and tobacco, completes their equipment. The Stone Indians are on friendly terms with their neigh- bours the Crees, and join in acts of hostility to the Slave Indians, who are, like themselves, a desperate set of men. Captain Franklin was 100 CREE ENCAMPMENT. fortunately prevented, by a fall of snow, from visiting an encampment of these Stone Indians j for though they may receive a visitor kindly, and treat him hospitably, yet they generally send two or three young men to waylay and rob him on his way home." Charles. ** Oh! papa, what a disgusting account! And how very difierent are these Stone Indians from the poor Crees, who, in the midst of misery, are kind hearted." " I agree with you, Charles. To be surrounded with suph human beings must be far worse than to be left alone with wolves and bears, unless there could be hopes of taming and civilizing these bar- barous people. I turn with pleasure from these barbarians, to give you some farther account of the Crees, whose encampment in the same neigh- bourhood our travellers had the curiosity to visit:, as well as a buffalo pound. Seven tents formed the encampment; the chief occupied the largest, and welcomed the party with a hearty shake of the hand, and ' What cheer?' As their visit had been expected, the tents had been prepared; fresh grass was strewed upon the ground, buffalo robes were placed for them to sit upon, and the kettle was upon the fire, ready to boil meat. Our travellers ipvited the chief to smoke "w ith them, and the news was shouted through the camp, ur P' SMOKING ENTERTAINMENT. 101 ivhich brought a number of hunters to join the party. The women and children withdrew, ac- cording to the etiquette of the country. The calumet or pipe was lighted, and presented to the chief, who pointed it to the south, west, north, and east, and then to the heavens, the earth, and the fire, as an offering to the spirits who presided. He then took three whiffs, gave it to another, who did the same, and so it went round the party. Some rum and water was then presented to the chief, who, before he drank, took a feather, and, dipping it in the cup, sprinkled some upon the ground, utteringaprayereach time. Hefirst prayed to the Great Spirit, that buffaloes might come in abundance to the pound; then he prayed that other animals, and particularly those whose fur was valuable, might be plentiful; then he prayed thatthewhole party might escape sickness; to these he added many other prayers ; and at the end of each the hunters cried out * Aha 1' the old man then drank a little, and passed the cup round. The whole party then smoked and conversed ; and our travellers would have been glad enough, if their interpreters could have related to them all the conversation ; for it appeared very humorous, and produced much laughing among themselves. " Some Stone Indians came into the camp, but one only of them entered the tent, as they are 102 BUFFALO POUND. not great friends with the Crees. Captain Frank- liU) by means of the interpreter, begged the Crees to continue to behave kindly to the traders, and promised to mention their good conduct to their ^ great father- beyond the sea, which is the name the natives give to the king of England. <* The buffalo pound was a circular space, fencjed in and banked up with snow at the en- trance, to prevent the buffaloes from getting but, after they had once been in. For about a mile leading to the pound, a number of tall stakes were driven into the ground, which the buffaloes mis- take for men, and which prevent them from run- ning out. A number of Indians lie concealed behind branches of trees, at some distance from the pounds, while a party of horsemen chase the buffalo into the road leading to it. They shout and drive on the poor animals, and as they get nearer, the concealed Indians rise and set up another shout, which so bewilders the buffaloes, that thty hurry into the pound, and an arrow or gun soon despatches them." Tom, ' *' This mode of hunting the buffalo. Papa, is something like that of hunting elephants^ in the island of Ceylon.** •' : : n j^ t v-yr > Papa. " The Crees, who, as you have learned from what I have related to you, are a very religious people, have always a large tree in the centre of METHOD OF MAKING PEMMICAN. 103 *he pound, on which they hang strips of buffalo skin, as grateful offerings to the *,Great Master of Life ;' and they often place a man in this tree to sing to the presiding spirit until the hunt is over and the buffaloes are all killed. " Carlton-house, which is a little provision post for the traders in fur, is pleasantly situated near the river. The land about it is fertile, and pro- duces wheat, barley, and potatoes ; and in winter the provisions are furnished by the Indians, in the form of dried meat and fat. A steep bank rises above the house, beyond which is an immeasur- able plain, in travelling across which the trader finds his horse for ever stumbling in badger holes, and, besides suffering from thirst and hunger, meets with no fuel to warm him except the dried dung of buffaloes. "■■ " Pemmican is the principal food for voyagers, as being the least bulky : it is made of buffalo meat, dried by the Indians in the sun, spread on a skin, and pounded with stones. They bring it jn' this state to the forts, where the hair is sifted from it, and melted fat kneaded into it. It is then squeezed tight into leathern bags, and hung out to cool, when it becomes fit for use, and if kept dry ' will be good a year or two. ^* As soon as Captain Franklin, and his party were rec-»ered from their fatigue, they made 104 voRACiry of the Canadians. ^ ^ preparations for continuing their journey to Isle a la Crosse. Captain Franklin and Mr. Back were mounted on horseback, and the carioles and sledges filled with provisions. It was February the weather was tolerably warm, and as they met with deer, partridges, and rabbits, they had an abundant supply of food, which was particularly agreeable to their Canadian voy- agers, who were a very ravenous kind of people. They stopped for a time at the Company's trad- ' ing posts at the Green Lake, where they heard that provisions were likely to be very scarce farther north ; and they accordingly wrote to Dr. Richardson, requesting him to bring as much as his canoes would hold. On leaving Green Lake, they were favoured with a friendly salute of guns, which were fired by women, the -^ men being absent hunting. They crossed the woods to the Beaver River, the banks of which were adorned with pines, willows, and poplars. Woods destroyed by fire every where met their eyes, and a very desolate] appearance they gavefto the country. While the party were passing through a deep glen, they came up to the remains of an Indian hut. The rapacious Canadians, hoping to find something to eat, pulled off the cover of a pile of wood which was near it, when, |Q their surprise they found the body of a wo- man, place forme terial and j treej nous, They theyc their they n Isle^ Compj were h to pla^ of this is celel « Ai ling ale ver Ri) Canadi rora B( the for( dents s arriyal "Pui Portage though INDIAN SEPULCHRE. 105 man, in a leather dress, which evidently had been placed there very recently. The clothes she had formerly worn la}' beside her, together with ma- terials for making a fire, a hatchet, a bark-dish, and a fishing line. An owl was sitting on a tree just by, which the Canadians thought omi- nous, and, covering up the pile again, proceeded. They next passed several lakes and swamps, till they came to Train Lahe^ from which traders get their birch to build sledges or tratneaiix ; i\iQve they met some sledges full of fish, sent them from Isle h. la Crosse. They came the next day to the Company's house at Isle k la Crosse Lake, and were hospitably received. The Indians assemble to play at the game of the cross in an island of this lake, which accounts for its name ; and it is celebrated also for a fish called the tittameg. " After a short rest here, our party went travel- ling along by Ckar Lake and Buffalo Lake to Bea- ver River, enlivened by the paddling songs of their Canadian voyagers, and illuminated by the Au- rora Borealis, which was particularly fine. At the fort here they had a dance, which the resi- dents always expect to be treated with on the arrival of any stranger. " Pursuing their journey they came to Methye Portage; where the scenery was very 'grand, even though it was winter. Here they overtook a 106 CHIPEWYAN INDIANS. party of Chipewyan Indians, and smoked a calu- met in the tent of the chief, M^hose name was Thumb. Mr. Back drew a picture of one of Thumb's sons, with which the father was highly delighted, and he charged the boy to be very good, since his picture had been drawn by a great chief. ** They came to another Chipewyan tent, the chief of whom was named the Sun, and he had five sons who were hunters. Both of these fami- lies were very disconsolate at the loss of some relations, nor could the travellers get any infor- mation from them. '*They next arrived at a station in the Athabasca department, called Pierre au Calumet, which is so called from being the place where the stone is found of which the Indians and Canadians make their pipes. In proceeding onward to fort Chi- pewyan, they passed an old Canadian, who was resting his wearied dogs, during the heat of the day. He was carrying meat from the Indians ; and his sledge, which was loaded with two hundred and fifty pounds weight, was dragged by two miserable dogs. Captain Franklin was amused at the conceit of this fellow, who entered into a quarrel with the other Canadians about their dogs, and offered to lay them a wager that his two dogs, lean and poor as they were, should carry their burden to the Athabasca Lake, sooner than any t for til panlo the e] seven been i Thef can hi felt a sore ft experi in whi beat u] «Bi before care w some c snatch these a gave, b they re vellers. Tradin vellers, «A( Frankl of reac ARRIVAL AT FORT CHIPEWYAN. lOt any three of their's. Tb^ chief reason he gave for this, was his own superior skill in driving. *< Thus Captain Franklin and his brave com- panions travelled on, and approached tpwards the end of a journey, eight hundred and fifty- seven miles in length, many parts of which had been agreeable, and many more most disagreeable. The fatigue and pain of walking in snow shoes can hardly be imagined by those who have never felt a weight of two or three pounds fastened to sore feet and swelled ankles. Another evil they experienced was in witnessing the cruel manner in which the Canadians use their dogs, whom they beat unmercifully. ** But when stretched out in the encampment, before a roasting fire, amid merry companions, all care was for the time forgotten ; even the trouble- some dogs were forgiven, who prowled about to snatch at every kind of food they could reach ; these animals indeed made up for the trouble they gave, by the warmth they imparted at night, when they reposed by the side or by the feet of the tra- vellers. The hospitable reception they met with at Trading Fort, too, was most gratifying to the tra^ vellers, and recompensed them for much suffering. *< At fort Chipewyan, the first object of Captain Franklin was to gain information as to the mode of reaching the Coppermine river. An old Chi- 108 '^ CHIPEWYAN TRADITION. ' peWyan, named Rabbit's Head, gave a curious tra- dition concerning the discovery of the copper mines in the neighbourhood of the river. This is it : * A party of Esquimaux, who were sup- posed to inhabit a land beyond the seas, came over and stole a woman from the Chipewyan Indians. She, poor soul, was very unhappy among them, and, after some years' residence, ran away and reached the sea side. As she was sitting there disconsolate, a wolf came and licked the tears from her eyes, and then walked into the sea. With joy, she perceived the water was very shal- low, and she determined upon following the wolf. With two sticks she made her way through the waves, and walked on for two days ; the third day the water became deeper, but still she persevered, and on the fifth she reached her native shore. A herd of reindeer passed by, and wit*h some kind of weapon she killed enough for her winter's store, and built a house for herself. Next spring, when she came out of her snow hut, she found the earth all glittering with bits of copper, and she saw at a distance a hill of copper; she col- lected what she could, thinking it might be useful to herfriends, stuck her clothesall overwith it, and set out again to seek her home. She soon met some of her relations, and, telling them what she had discovered, took thorn to the copper hill: but they, CHIPEWYAN INDIANS. 109 treating her ungratefully, she fled to the summit of the hill, which opened suddenly, and swallowed up both herself and the hill. Ever after, small pieces of copper only could be found.' <* This is a specimen of the Indian traditions; and we must not wonder that they become rather mar- vellous, since the natives have no means of writ- ing down their histories, nor any principle of truth to guide them. ii ' " The Chipewyans are as boastful, or indeed more so, than any other tribe Capt. Franklin met with. They style themselves the northern Indians, or the People; and suppose they originally sprang from a dog. Some years ago, the wise idea entered their heads, that it was wrong to employ animals so nearly related to them ; and therefore they determined upon destroying them all. The t&sk, therefore, of dragging the sledges and carrying the tents, now falls to the wo- men ; for the proud Chipewyan only con- descends to carry his gun and his medicine chest. The character of these people is not much more pleasing than that of the Stone Indians; they are cruel to their wives, abandon the aged and the sick, and have not even the virtue of hospitality. If any one enters their tents, he is never offered any food ; but if the stranger has impudence enough to thrust his stick into the 110 EXCURSION TO BASgUIAN HILLS. ' boiling pot, and fish up a piece of meat for himself, the Chipewyan thinks it beneath his dignity to quarrel with him about a bit of meat. . / • , " It was the middle of July before Capt. Frank- lin could collect sufficient stores and information to enable him to proceed ; and in the mean time he had been joined by Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, of whose journey to Chipewyan Fort I must give you some account; but first tell me, Charles, whether you would be as willing to make disco- veries by land, as you professed yourself to wish to do by sea?" ' • • ': " Indeed, Papa," answered Charles, " I feel my courage sinking fast. Hunger, cold, fatigue, and the neighbourhood of those Indian savages, appear to me too much for any one to endure." - ,. ■ " It is, indeed, Charles, a terrific prospect ; let us wish our travellers courage through their perils, the account of which ought to make us think lightly of our own little daily trials, which are apt to affect our temper and our happiness much more than they ought. " To return to our travellers. Mr. Hood, whom we left at Cumberland-house, had made an excursion to the Basquian Hills, to draw a picture of a moose-deer. He visited the tent of an In- dian, named * Warrior,* and amused himself by sketching the inside of the tent and its inhabi-" •> ' ^ • itJDIAiJ SUPERSTlTioi^* tants. One of the old women left otf qtiaf relling with another, thinking he was employing a charm against her : and a young man, in mimicry of him, drew, with a piece of charcoal, a picture of a frog on the side of the tent, and by pointing at Mr. Hood, drew forth peals of laughter from the In- dians. It was so long before the Indian hunters could succeed in killing a moose-deer, that the savages concluded, as they do whenever they are suffering any affliction, that the evil spirit was tor- menting them ; and they assembled all together, and beat a tambourine and sang a hymn to the manito or deity, and uttered three words over and over again, which were intended as a prayer for success. A moose was at length caught : but, be- tween the starving Indians and the rapacious wolves, Mr. Hood had great trouble in keeping it together till he had made a drawing of it, when it was instantly cut up and devoured. " The English travellers, accompanied by eight Canadian boatmen in two canoes, and some small store of provision, at length left Cumberland- house. They crossed several small lakes, and sdleddown Sturgeon River, where they met with numerous and dangerous rapids. " They crossed Beaver, Island, Heron, and Woody Lakes, and embarked on a part of the Mississipi River, leading to Rapid River, till they l2 112 CATASTROPHE AT OTTER PORTAGE. arrived at the Mountain Portage. This was an ascent over a rocky island, between which and the shore were three large cataracts : the coun- try here became very bold, woody, and moun- tainous. Their first adventure happened at the Otter Portage. The river ran with rapidity among large stones: they carried the cargoes, and attempted to get the canoes through by tracking. They succeeded with the first canoe, but the last, with the steersman and foreman in it, was upset and hurried away by the current. Mr. Hood immediately jumped into the other boat, and urging the men to follow him, they launched into the rapid, descended it quickly, and perceived the bottom of the lost canoe above water in a little bay into which it had been whirled by the eddy. One man had reached the bank, but the foreman was seen no more. The canoe was saved ; but the Canadians were deeply affected with the loss of their companion, and, full of me- lancholy forebodings, erected a little cross on the rocks near which he had perished. " Their road lay through a variety of lakes, rivers, and portages, till they reached the Isle a la Crosse, where in vain they endeavoured to pro- cure a supply of provision to take with them for the expedition. All the residents were ill sup- plied, and poor ; ten bags of pemmican alone a PORTAGE OF THE DROWNED. 113 could be furnished. From this post their route was very similar to that which Capt. Franklin had recently taken : and, the weather being fine, they had few troubles to brave, except from mbsquitos and sand^ies, with the disappointment of finding, when they reached Chipewyan, that their pera- mican was rotten and good for nothing. " With this disaster ended Mr. Hood's narra- tive : and as the whole party was now reunited, they prepared to go forward, not without some few melancholy forebodings on account of their scanty supply of provisions. The small store, however, they could procure from their trading friends at Chipewyan, was packed up in three canoes ; and, as the Canadians were very cheerful, the party set out in great glee. A lively pad- dling song was volunteered by the boatmen, and kept up till they lost sight of the houses. They entered the magnificent stream called the Slave River, passed down a part of the Dog River, and reached 'The Portage of the Drowned.' This spot took its name from a melancholy accident, which happened there many years ago. Two canoes arrived at the upper end of the portage : in: one of them was a skilful guide, who thought he might venture to shoot the rapid; a^id he pro- mised to fire a musket as a signal for the other canoe to follow, if he got safely to the bottom. L 3 114 fORT PROVIDENCE. It proved a very dangerous rapid, and the boat and the crew were nearly lost, in spite of the. skill of the guide. They had reached the land, however, when an unlucky fellow seized a gun and fired at a bird. The people in the other canoe taking this as a signal, followed incautiously down the rapid, but getting frightened in the middle, their canoe was upset, and every man drowned. *^ At Salt River the party filled their casks with salt, for winter use; and here too they had the good fortune to kill a buffalo, which was swim- ming in the river. They towed him to land, and, after loading the canoes with meat, amid the songs of the boatmen, descended the stream merrily. " At the foot of Moose-deer Island, they en- gaged Pierre St. Germain as interpreter to the expedition ; but could not get a farther supply of provision. ''After crossing the Great Slave Lake, they reached Fort Providence, where Mr.,Wentzel had procured for them an Indian guide. Mr. Wentze) was a trader, whose business was to make arrangenqients with the Indian hunters, and distribute stores and provisions to the European traders. << And now our travellers held their first con- ference with the Indians who were to assist them in their expedition; and accordingly they dressed • ^ ■ ■ 1 ^ t 1 *• 1 :^. y' ' ', - . n. / 1 * . ' . t '. s ."it ^' •. • ' 9 e - ■' ••■' ■ ■ .'■ ■ .-■' h - • ■;■■'; ^ '• ■ ■ -. .1 *■ e ' . J. : * • • • ,. .• . I- '/'■iV'-: - ■■ : ' •' ■ u ' .::r--i;- ■,'.-; . . ■ \ ■■,■/•• '' "\. [S .''•'r-/ ■-. V-':' '■ ' • ► - .•"■'.- [■ :\' . ' ' ■ ' ' ':v;-:-;:.;^, -;:■,■■_. • ■ 1- •f'''%:-- 'v- '':'>. le )f 1 y •- ' i\ 1 . • ' " . - . r r. o -'Wr'" • ^ '.",'■■■-' - - ■ .'""■'■■,' - d n t i I'-uMj/u-.i J^^ril 4 '^iSzS.by J.JLin-ij. J.'J'julf cliurch Y,irJ T' CONFERENCE WnH INDIANS. 110 themselves in their uniforms, and made the^* pelves as smart as possible^; as thei' were told the Indians thought much of appearances. The In- dian canoes approached in regular order, and, on landing, the chief, whose name was Akaitcho, or Big Foot, marched up with a very grave look, till he reached the hall where the officers were : after smoking his pipe, drinking a glass of spirits* of which he also handed a glass to each of his follow- ers who were seated on the floor around him, he began his harangue. * He rejoiced,' he said, < to see such great chiefs on his lands : his tribe was poor, but they loved white men. And he had heard, too, that a great medicine chief was among them, who could restore the dead to life ; and as he now undertook to assist them in their expedi- tion, he wished to know what was the object of it?* " Captain Franklin answered, that he and his companions were come from the greatest chief in the world, who loved peace, and Was the father of the trading countries ; and that, hearing his children in the north were in great want of mer- chandize, in consequence of the distance by Ifind, he had sent some people to find out a nearer way by sea, by which great vessels cduld bring a large supply to their country. <* Akaitcho a^d his guides then gave all the in- 116 INDIAN DANCE. formation they possessed; and after they had made many promises of assistance. Captain Franklin put a medal round the neck of the chief, with which he was highly pleased, though he thought it becoming his dignity to look very grave. *'A dance in the evening concluded this peaceable introduction ; and after the Indians had been amused with the grotesque gestures of the Canadians, they favoured the travellers with a sight of the celebrated Dog-rib Indian dance. To perform this, they ranged themselves in a circle, and, with their legs widely separated, jumped all together, sideways, with their bodies bent, their hands upon their hips, and a^tsa* at the end of each jump. " The party of Indians who were to accom- pany the expedition to the Coppermine River being selected, the travellers set out, having a small canoe to carry the wor en, in addition to the three others. Akaitcho at first kept up a kind of state ; but, when he thought the Europeans did not observe him, he would frequently help the Indian to paddle his canoe along ; and in a few days he was quite free and easy with them. »i.*^ " They proceeded, travelling in the same man- ner as they had done before, up the Yellow-knife River, or, as the Indians call it, Beg-ho-lo-dessy, 'the river of the toothless fish.' But, alas 1 CANADIANS MUTINOUS. 117 neither toothless fish, nor any other fish, could be procured ; and the reindeer were so very shyy that our party began to feel pangs of hunger creeping upon them. The Canadians, whose dispositions now began to shew themselves, murmured many days, and then broke out into open discontent ; they threatened not to proceed a step farther without food. Captain Franklin, with great spirit, ordered that if any one of them dared to stop, he should be instantly punished ; for he perceived they were trying their power with their new masters, and if he gave way to them at first, they would continue disobedient In consequence of this firm conduct, they behaved tolerably well for a time, and every supply of deer brought in by the hunters revived their spirits. " A number of lakes brought them, at 1 ^t, to the spot which the Indians recommended for their winter establishment; and, accordingly, they encamped there. It proved a very well chosen situation, commanding a fine view, and sheltered by pines thirty or forty feet high. " Thus had they accomplished a journey, from Fort Chipewyan, of five hundred and fifty-three miles, and as it was Sunday when they arrived a' this station, they spent it in rest and thanks- giving ; and all united in hearing Divine service read. 118 APPROACH OF WINTER. '* Akaitcho and the Indians, who had staid be- hind hunting, were warned of the arrival of the travellers at their destination, by a large fire on a hill. The voyagers divided into two parties, the one to find wood and build a store-house, the other to fetch the meat as the hunters killed it. A flock of geese, migrating to the'south, gave them the melancholy intimation that winter was again approaching, and they had the vexation to find that Akaitcho positively refused to accompany them himself, or suffer any of his people to ac- company them, to the Coppermine till the next spring, as they would all be certain of losing their lives from cold and hunger. After saying a great deal to him, to induce him to change his resolution, Akaitcho said,* Well, if you will not be persuaded for your own good to give up going this winter, you shall take some of my young men with you ; but the moment they embark in the canoes, I shall lament them as dead.' " This desertion of the chief obliged Captain Franklin to give up his intended journev for the winter ; and he contented himself with sending Mr. Back and Mr. Hood in a light canoe to ascertain the distance and the size of the Copper- mine River. Accordingly they set out, accom- panied by St. Germain and some Canadians, furnished with a tent, blankets, and eight days* provision. good FORT ENTERPRIZE. 119 " An eclipse, which had happened some little time before, excited great curiosity among the Indians, who wondered above every thing how the white men could foretel when it would hap- pen. It convinced them, they said, that Whites were superior to Indians. Captain Franklin took the opportunity of talking to them of a Supreme Being, and of persuading them to pay great atten- tion to do what was right, in order to please their Heavenly Father; and Akaitcho immediately said, * We will go directly and hunt, and provide food for the white men, in return for the interesting things they have been telling us.* " Charles. I begin to think, papa, that these poor savages want only instruction to make them good people ; and that they deserve more pity than contempt. , ,. ' , ,,,,j _ ."rt; (( CHAPTER III. ii; Fort Enterprize, for such the winter esta- blishment was named, was deserted for a time, as Akaitcho with his Indians had taken their de- parture, and Captain Franklin and Dr. Richardson were gone on a walking tour towards the Copper- mine River. The house was finished in the mean- time, and preparations were made for another tedious northern winter. 120 ' INJURIOUS REPORT. " When all were again reassembled, Mr. Back and Belanger were despatched to Fort Providence to see what stores and provisions could be pro- cured; for the hunting season was closed, and the Indian party had added to the numbers to be fed at the fort. <^ Belanger was the first to return; he had walked for six-and-thirty hours during a storm ; his hair was matted with snow, and he was covered with a crust of ice from head to foot, so that they scarcely knew him at the fort. He brought a packet of letters from England, which, when thawed, were found to contain news of the death of George the Tliird. This fact Captain Frank- lin wisely concealed from the Indians, lest the death of their ^ great master' might lead them to suppose that the Englishmen might not be able to keep their promises to them. This precaution was very needful; but, unfortunately, some Indians arrived soon after with a report that these tra- vellers were not really officers of the great king, but only a set of wretched dependents, who wanted to obtain subsistence in the plentiful country of the Copper-Indians; and that, as the trading companies had only helped them out of charity, there would be no chance of their being able to reward the Indians, as they had promised. Of this report Akaitcho very properly came and in- (« (C WINTER AT FORT ENTERPRISE. 121 formed Captain Franklin, who succeeded pretty well in convincing him of its falseness.'' " In this winter, at Fort Enterprize, did the sun disappear altogether, papa?" asked Tom.y,* " It was below the horizon for twelve days only ; which was a very short absence, compared with what Captain Parry had experienced. The cold was intense, though not sufficient to prevent the woodcutters and other workmen from going about their business. V " The winter hours were spent by Captain Franklin and his fellow-travellers in the follow* ing manner : They read all the newspapers and magazines from England, over and over again ; they wrote their journals ; walked out to see the woodmen; and in the evening joined in the games of the men in the hall. Mr. Hood completed his drawings ; Dr. Richardson studied the mineralogy of the country. They ate reindeer meat and fish, and on Sunday had a cup of chocolate ; but their greatest treat was tea. With strips of cot- ton shirts and reindeer fat, they made candles; and Hepbura was a skilful manufacturer of soap out of wood-ashes, fat, and salt. Keskarrah, their In- dian vguide, had a wife and daughter. The wife had long been ill, and her old husband made an offering of a knife and some tobacco to the water- spirits, who, as he thought, had caused her illness. M 122 COPPER INDIANS. He would not, however, trust these spirits en- tirely, but came to the * great medicine chief,* Dr. Richardson, for some phyfeic. One day, he re- ceived the medicine with ^uch gravity, and wrap- ped it up in his rein-deer robe so carefully, that the officers could not help laughing. Keskarrah smiled too, for he was a good-tempered old fel- low; but his wife fancied their laughing was a sigh that some bad medicine had been given her, and the whole night was spent in groans and sobs. " The daughter was named * Green-stockings,' and was thought a beauty. Mr. Hood took her portrait, but the mother was not pleased; she said that if the 'great chief,' who lived in England, saw the picture, he would be sure to send for her daughter, to make her his wife. ^^ * ^ ^ " Two Esquimaux interpreters now arrived at the fort, Tattanseuck and Haeootaerock, or as the English named them, Augustus and Junius. Mr. Back likewise joined the party, having per- formed a perilous journey, chiefly on foot, of a thousand miles, to Fort Chipewyan, in order to provide stores and other necessaries for the ex* pedition. ' - . ., . .' > > " And now, before the travellers leave the fort and begin their discoveries, I must give you some account of the Copper or Birdrind Indians, and other small tribes, on whom so much of their TRADITION OF THE SOUIRILEL. 123 future support is to depend. Akaitcho is th6 chief of the Copper- Indians, of which there are not above two hundred, and he is looked upon as a great chief. They resemble the Chipewyans, but are kinder to their women, and more hospitable to strangers ; but still dreadful beggars. They are willing to be taught, and regularly attended divine service every Sunday, while with the Europeans.. " Old Keskarrah was an intelligent but rather conceited Copper Indian. He used often to say, ' It is very strange, that I never meet with any one so clever fii! myself !* Among other strange tra- ditions of his nation, he told Captain Franklin the following hen the earth was first formed, it was in total darkness. A bear met a squirrel, and both agreed to set out in opposite directions and run round the earth, and whoever reached the place they started from first, should shew his victory by some wonderful deed. The squirrel got there first, and, jumping into a tree, called for light; upon which the darkness instantly left the earth, and a bird like a crow was seen with its wings flapping it away. The squirrel then broke a piece of wood off the tree, held it up, and said, * Wood, like this, shall provide future ages with the means of crossing the deep waters of the earth.' " The Dog-ribs, who inhabit a country west of the Copper Indians, are mild and hospitable, and M 2 124 SQUINT-EYED QUARRELL^RS. '^ ibnd of dancing and singing, in which amuse- ments they spend much of their time. They are much kinder to their wives than the other tribes, doing the laborious work themselves, while the women ornair it their dress with quill-work. When bands of Dog-ribs meet, after a long ab- sence, they perform a dance, which frequently lasts two or three days, the ground being cleared of snow or bushes for the purpose. They begin the dance with their backs turned to each other, and follow one after another in a chain, carrying a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. They make many turns, till they come back to back again, wheathey pretend to see each other for the first time, and immediately change the bow to the right hand and the arrow to the left, to shew that they do not mean to employ their weapons against their friends. They are not great friends with the Copper tribe, who steal their women and furs. ■ • 'r -' '• v' ' " There is a small tribe of Indians called Tymo- thee Dinneh, or Squint-eyed Quarrellers ; there is also a tribe called Sheep Indians ; and another, called Strong-bow or Thickwood Indians, who frequent the Riviire aux Liards* The young men of thb tribe are named after their dogs, till they are married and have a son, when they are called the father of the boy. The women have a \ (( AMUSEMENTS AT FORT ENTERPRISE. 125 very gentle method of reproving the dogs, when fighting : they say to them, * Are you not ashamed to quarrel with your little brother ?* The dogs appear to understand, and sneak ofF. " The winter at Fort Enterprize did not pass without great want of food, particularly among the Indians, who wei*e often seen clearing away the snow to collect bones, deer's feet, and bits of Aide. With pity did the travellers behold them; little thinking that, before the year v:as over, they themselves would be collecting these very bones a second time. '* Captain Franklin introduced the amusement of sliding down a steep frozen bank of the river in sledges, which descended rapidly, and went a long way upon the ice. The officers joined in this sport, and the frequent overturns made it very amusing. The Captain himself, one day, was overturned and naif buried in the snow, when a fat Indian woman drove her sledge over him, and sprained his knee. ** And now moose-deer were again seen ad- vancing northward from their warmer winter quarters; ducks, geese, and robins appeared, and Spring brought again brown patches, instead of the white robe which the country had been clothed in. ; " All were alive and active, and hoping to re- M 3 i .126 DEPARTURE FROM FORT ENTERPRISE. commence travelling; when, lo! Akaitchowas as unwilling to accompany them as he had been in the autumn. The wary old fellow teased them sadly by these repeated delays, and by his inces- sant begging; ar.'' it was not till he discovered that the Europe .xa had nothing more to give, that he would keep his promise. The first party were to set out on the 4th of June, headed by Dr. Richardson, who war in great request before his departure: he had to make up little packets of medicine for the leader and all the minor chiefs, and write down how they were to be used. Akait- jcho shewed himself very grateful for the comfort his tribe had experienced in having had this * medicine chief with them through the winter, in which season they generally lost many of their people, whereas not a life had been lost in the present one. On the 4th, therefore, Dr. Richard- son, with a party of Canadian voyagers and a few Indians, went forward. ,* " Wh*^n all the packing was done at Fort En- terprize, and Akaitcho saw the empty state of the store-rooms, he said, with a smile: ' Well, now I see you have nothing more to give, and therefore I shall try to procure you provisions, and not trouble you any more.* He promised likewise, when he should return, to deposit a large store of provisions in Fort Enterprize, to be ready when ARRIVAL AT POINT LAKE. 127 Captain Franklin should reach it on his way back. In one of the rooms, Captain Franklin left his journal and other papers ; and after block* ing up the room, he painted on the door a figure of a man holding a dagger, to decer the Indians from breaking it open. " Taking leave of Fort Enterpri:!e» Captain Frankllii and his party had to drag their burdens across a number of frozen lakes; the weather was still cold, and most of them had a fall through the ice with their loads on their backs. They shortly reached Point Lake, through which the Coppermine river runs, and joined the rest of the party who had encamped here. As the lake was still frozen, Captain Franklin deter- mined to drag the loads over it. They all now travelled together, and proceeded, accord- ing to the direction of the guide, to the north- east of the lake, but in vain did they look for the river. The guide was confused, and went to look out from some high hills near the Rock's- nest, while the travellers were entertained by the sight of a wolf chasing two deer on the ice. The wolf, however^ got alarmed as he approached the men, and gave up the hunt. " The guide now reported that the river was flowing between the RockVnest, and the travellers had soon the satisfaction of embarking their i 128 AN ENRAGED BUPPALO. ' ' canoes on its waters. They were carried along quickly by strong and repeated rapids, which continued far up the river, the banks of which are very picturesque. The hills, which shelve to the. brink, are covered with woods, and richly or- namented with mosses of various kinds. Here and there they were stopped by drifted ice, over which they were forced to drag their canoes. They encamped occasionally upon the shores, where they found several plants in flower, and the weather very warm; and their hunters'took the op- portunity of going out in search of deer, which, with some few fish and birds, formed their food. <' A herd of buffaloes, or musk oxen, making its appearance, eight of them were killed by the In- dians on shore, and a party from the boats was despatched to fetch the store. As Captain Frank- lin was walking by the tents, a young buffalo, en- raged by the firing, ran" down to the river, and passed close to him : he took up his gun, fired, and wounded the animal, who instantly turned and ran at him ; and Captain Franklin was obliged to jump upon apiece of rock, when the people came from the tents, and the buffalo took to flight. The flesh of these oxen tastes of musk, particu- larly when lean, which these proved to be. " After travelling up the river for some time, they came to a rocky precipice, on which was an encampment of a copper chiefs called ' the Hook,' it THE TERRIFIC RAPID. 129 ' ^vho was brother to Akaitcho. Finding they were in want of provisions, he ordered the women to collect all the meat they had, saying, that his own people could live upon fish until more should be procured. " Our travellers, in return for the bags of pem- mican thus supplied them, gave ' the Hook* and his followers all the presents they could spare ; and as these people seemed extremely anxious about the safety of the travellers, Captain Frank- lin urged them to continue in that station, and to deposit provisions in various places during the summer, both on the banks of the Coppermine river, and on the Coppermine mountains. This * the Hook' promised; and after he had consulted Dr. Richardson about his health, and received a packet of medicine from him, the travellers took their leave, and once more embarked, to pursue their adventures. They passed the rocky Defile Rapid in safety, much to the Indians* joy, who call it the terrifc rapid, and with justice. The river is here contracted between two perpendicular cliffs, and thus descends in a deep and crooked channel for three quarters of a mile. The body of the river, pent in this narrow chasm, dashes fu- riously round the rocks, and discharges itself at the bottom in a sheet of foam. The canoes ran through, however, when lightened of their burdens. After passing this rapid, they reached the « ! I 130 ESQUIMAUX. it Copper mountains, and a party was sent in searcli of copper ore. The Indians were totally ignorant where to look for it ; having given up the prac- tice of making their instruments of copper since they have been supplied with iron from the trad- ing companies. *' As the Indians knew the river to be only one succession of rapids till it reached the sea, they refused to take their canoes any farther, but Cap- tain Franklin ordered two of his men to carry one along with them, in case it might be wanted. When the party approached the part where the Es- quimaux were expected to be met with, it was de- termined to send Junius and Augustus, the two Es- quimaux interpreters, forward, to acquaint their countrymen with the approach of the strangers. ^ *' The Indians represented the Esquimaux to be very hostile to them ; and therefore great fear was entertained for the safety of these two poor fel- lows, who had endeared themselves to all the tra- vellers by their obliging and pleasing conduct. They clothed themselves, however, in Esquimaux dresses, and set out, taking with them some pre- sents for their countrymen. The officers crawled up to the top of the mountain to try to see them, but night came without their return. Dr. Ri- chardson was seated on the summit of the hill, looking at the river that washed the precipice ^n i ■ I \ ,^accr a-'ri; DANGER FROM WOLVES. 181 below; and, buried in thought, remained there till after dusk: all at once, looking around him, he perceived nine white wolves approaching, who had ranged themselves in a crescent behind him, apparently i;itending to drive him into the river. He rose, and they halted, and made way while he passed to the tents. He had his gun, but he for- bore to shoot, for fear the enemies, the Esqui- maux, should be lurking in the neighbourhood. Is not this an instance, Charles, that to brave a danger is more than half to conquer it ?" " Indeed, papa, I fear I should have acted more like the poor deer, and have rushed down the cliff, to escape the grinding jaws of those frightful animals," cried Charles. " As Augustus and Junius did not appear, Captain Franklin and the officers set off in search of them, leaving the Indians with Mr. Wentzel behind. Each person was armed with a gun and a dagger, as if going to encounter a terrible ene- my. In the evening, they met Junius, who was coming back to tell them that they had met with four Esquimaux tents, and held a conference with one of the people, who expressed great alarm when told of the approach of the Whites and the Indians. -J r.ru.U^ u iUHy^c ■:»!.; r-;M ** Upon their arrival at the spot, they learned from Augustus that there had been only four men ' 132 CONCILIATORY MEASURES. If and two women, and that they had retreated to nn island a little farther off, after destroying their lodges, as a token to their countrymen, who might chance to come to the place, that enemies were at hand. Captain Franklin visited the deserted en- campment, where he found dogs, provisions, ket- tles, and various household things, all of which he ordered to be taken care of, that, in case the Es- quimaux returned, they might find they were in the neighbourhood of friends, and not of enemies. " Captain Franklin then despatched Adam, the interpreter, with a party, to inform the Indians of the flight of the Esquimaux ; but Adam soon came running back with the news, that some Esquimaux were pursuing the men, who had been sent to collect floats. These men, however, were soon perceived returning slowly; they reported that they had unexpectedly met the Esquimaux, who were travelling down to the rapid ; that the wo- men hid themselves, but that the men began to dance in a circle, tossed up their hands, and made great shouts. One party pulled off their hats and made bows, but neither people seeming to wish to approach the other, the Esquimaux re- tired. The officers then went to the hill, and there, lying behind a stone, they found an old man, who had been left with the baggage, unable to proceed. The old fellow was frightened when (( INDIAN PREJUDICE. 133 he saw Augustus approach, and, seizing a spear, thrust it at him. He was soon pacified; and, after receiving a few presents, became composed. He gave a good deal of information ; and, after asking the several names of all the party, told them that his own name was Terreganeook, or the White Fox, of the tribe of Nagge-ook-tor- moeoot, or Deer Horn. This poor creature was too infirm to walk, and bent with age; when he received a present, he first put it on his right shoulder, then on his left ; and, when very much pleased, he rubbed it over his head. When he looked at his face in a glass, which was held to him, he cried out, *^ 1 shall never kill deer again !" and put the glass down. His wife, who had con- cealed herself among the rodcs, soon joined him. " The Indians, through fear of the Esquimaux, now determined to leave the travellers to them- selves, and to return; nor could they be per- suaded to leave any hunters. The only two who remained, who had any skill in hunting, w«re the interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, \vh)> likewise would willingly have returned if they had not been strictly watched till their coun- trymen were departed, when terror of the Esqui- maux kept them safe enough. " * ■" " The party now resumed their voyage down the river till they came to where it joined the seo. N ,^,i,jm 134 ARRIVAL IN THE POLAR SEA. The faithful Hepburn was overjoyed at the sight of the element on which he. had passed so mujch of his life ; hut the Canadians had far other feel- ings. They were terrified at the thoughts of br^Vr ing the rough waves, of the. icy. sea ia a canoe made of birch-bark, and. murmured bitteriy. at tb^e cold and hunger they, would have to encounter. '^ Thus was finished, my boys, another part of this vast journey. Our travellers had gone oveu three hundred and thirtyrlbur miles since they left Fort Enterprize ; one hundred and seventeen of which they had been obliged to drag their baggage over, snow and ice." CHAPTER IV. " You must expect, my bqysy a chapter of hor- > rors ; and, I own, I, should^be unwiUing to givfe you so painful a recital, if it were not fpr the hope of inspiring you wijth admiration at the qourage and constancy of our band.of travellers,, and of shew- ing you the.valu^ of that. fprtiUide which springs from a well-regulat^4.^^4 ^c^£^pus^ipfl• " Captain ^rankjlin and his companions now; einbafked upon the Polar Sea, pleased at the thoughts of taking leave of fr^sh-wajteir navigation, whicl> hi^ bCf^n a n^w and trpublesome kind of occupation to most pf th^. They pa^^cnd a DETENTION HARBOUR. 13^ long way without coming to any ice, and passed several groupes of rocky and barreh islands, which Captain Franklin named < Berens' and * Sir Graham Moore's' islands. The coast was wdl covered with trees and herbs, and a fat deer now and thien rewarded the hunter's toll, when he landed to hunt. After a passage of about twenty milesj they entered the ice, and with difficulty pad- dled their little bark through its masses, till they reached Detention Harbour, where they landed. The ice was giving way fastj and they felt sure that it would all ihelt during the Summer, as there were no traces of last year's ice to be met with. This was some consolation forthefuture^but still the ice^ though only in small pieces, Ivas so closely pack- ed, that there was no prospect bf their being able to push through it at present into the open sea. This wds unfortunate, because they were fearful of consuming all their scaiity store of provisions. They dent St Germain on shores and he shot at several deer, but killed none; and when they ex- amined their pemmican^ they had the mortifica- tion to find th^ two bf the bags were mouldy from thd damp, and the beef was so badly salted as to be scarcely eatable. <* They again embarked, and proccieded slowly and with great danger through the body of ice, till their stock of provision wis reduced to an eight N 2 .^j 136 CAPE BARROW. ^k days* consumption. Captain Franklin, remember ing that Terregaiieook^had told him that the £s^ quimaux freqtieht the rivers at this season, deter- mined to try to find them,. to obtain relief for his wants, and possibly a shelter for the winter. When they arrived, therefore, at the mouth of a river, which they named* Hood's River,* he sent Au-i^j gustus and Junius with Hepburn to seek for them, and obtain assistance and information; but. they returned without having seen any traces of the Esquimaux. The hunters, however, had been so fortunate as to kill a bear and several deer." ' r-" Charles. " The bear would be of no usd to thein, papa: surely, its flesh is never eaten?" « - . . *' The flesh was brought, however, to the tent, and the officers made an excellent meal on its boiled paws; but the Canadians fancied, from its lean ap« t^^ pearance, that it had been sickly, and therefore declined partaking of it. " They embarked again, and continued pad- dling for several days, making very good progi'ess, and finding plenty of deer. You will find, how- ever, that after our travellers had left Cape Bar^- row, which is to the north of Detention Harbour, they had been pursuing a south-east course, which made them fear that they were leaving the main larid and entering into a large inlet. This they soon discovered to be the case ; and the inlet was ^:::,:- :-- - -, : , === -«7 =:S^By:y^=^^9^^=^V7 J r^^^^^ a^^^-^" ~ fl| = ■■ ■ ^~^z== ^ #^-.. tf^fA - - ' y^lU.V;' ' . ■ ■ • y ■; "^^ ■ V.;- *i^^^B »^<^_,||IW- ^j9^^-.- ■ ^ I ■l^-l. M dpri7 4 ': chim'hYjrd . ' - ■ ' •*■' t , fiATHURST' INLET. 137 terminated by a river, which they named ^ Back*s River/ Their only consolation for this Idss of time was, that they killed a musk ox and It fat bear^ which the voracious Canadians now no longer re- fused to eat. A quantity of dried willows enabled them to make a good fire and to dress their food, and the bear's flesh was pronounced excellent. Fish they caught in abundance: and they saw plenty of seals, but could not shoot them. '* After paddling for some time north-north- west, and finding the ice impassable in that direc- tion, they resumed an easterly course, and at last arrived at the eastern entrance of the inlet, which had cost them nine valuable days in exploring, and which they named ' Bathurst's InleU* << With the prospect of an open sea before them,, they resumed their voyage along the coast, and persevered till they were stopped by a strong wind^ after passing Cape Croker, which raised the waves to such a height that the Canadians were quite terrified, being used only to fresh-water naviga- tion. When the wind had somewhat abated they hoisted sail, and continued along the coast tUl they entered a large ga\£, the only outlet from which was a winding shallow passage. This gulf Captain Franklin named ' George the Fourth's Coronation Gulf,' and they afterwards passed Parry's Bay and Melville's Sound. ' N 3 I I ui.'xii'ftffgii b 138 POINT TUKNAGAIN. (C At Melville Sound they encamped, and Cap* tain Franklin found, to his sorrow, that his slight canoes had suffered greatly from the rough sea and the drifted ice. But he was most grieved to find that his crew, who had hitherto borne their hardships cheerfully, now felt such fears for i heJr safety that they could not help expressing ihem even before him. These two circumstances, added to many of minor consideration, and the impossibi- lity of rsachingRepulse Bay that, season, made Cap- tain Franklin ti ink seriously of returning; and, after consulting his brother oiScers, he announced his resolution of returning fn four days, provided that during tliat time he did not meet with the Esquimaux. This news cheered the Canadians, who once more set forward cheerfully; and, after passing various bays and islands, they had the pleasure of seeing the open sea to the north-east. They again encamped, and searched in vain for the Esquimaax. A party of officers walked about twelve miles on shore, till they came to a point which they named * Point Turnagain,' the land still continu- ing its northerly direction^ " They had sailed five hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Coppermine River, though the direct course would not have been so much ; and Captain Franklin was convinced that there was a continuance of sea as far as Repulse Bay, DETERMINATION TO RETURN. 139 which future navigators, more fortunately situ- ated, might perhaps explore. " Having given up all thoughts of proceeding tarther eastward, their future course was now to ih fixed upon. Captain Franklin's original inten- tiuii had been to return to the Copper-Mine River, and from thence to go by the Great Bear and Mar- ten Lakes to the Great Slave Lake ; but it was now necessary, in consequence of the scarcity of their provision, to fix upon a nearer place. He deter- mined, therefore, to go back to the Arctic Sound, where the animals had been more plentiful, and, after paddling as far up Hood's River as possible, to make smaller canoes out of their large ones, and to carry them over the barren grounds to Fort Enterprize. .-" The shortness of the summer was enough to chill any one's hopes of doing much ; it had not begun till the middle of June ; and now, when the middle of August was come, the geese were seen re- turning southward, the nights were cold and frosty, and every sign of winter again displayed itself. " It is worthy of remark, that Captain Franklin left Turnagain Point on the same day that Cap- tain Parry sailed out of Repulse Bay ; and that at this time they were separated from each other only by a distance of five hundred and thirty-nine miles. ^' The deer on the coast were now scarce, and «r.:"j:Kmtm mtmmmlmKef: 140 PASSAGE UP hood's RIVER. the Canadian voyagers were so hungry, that they even volunteered to make a stretch of fifteen miles across Mt^lville Sound in a very strong wind and heavy sea. it was indeed a bold attempt, but the little canoes reached the shore in safety, and after an encampment was made, the whole party went to hunt. A few more day's, sailing enabled them to reach Hood's River, and thus their voyage in the Arctic Sea was completed to the great joy of the Canadians, who spent the evening in talking over their adventures, and boasting much of their own exploits. Ah ! poor fellows, no thought of the evils that were to come, damped their enjoy- ment that evening. " The English Union flag yva3 planted on the loftiest hill in the neighbourhood ; and an assort- ment of beads and looking-glasses left as a present to the Esquimaux, when they should come there. * " Our party now proceeded up the river, which, I am grieved to say, will be ever memorable from their misfortunes. The shoals and rapids again be- came so numerous as to oblige the o£Bcers to walk along the banks, while the crew dragged the canoes, thus lightened of their loads. After this laborious day's work, they encamped at the foot of two mag- nificent cascades, where the water, which was con- fined between two huge perpendicular rocks, rushes down a precipice of such depth that they could '4 DISTRESSING SITUATION. 141 only just see the top of the spray which it throws up. These falls they named the * Wilberforce Falls. And now the plan of converting the canoes into smaller ones was put into execution, and completed in a few days. Each man was ' applied with leather shoes, worsted stockings, and other warm clothing. The weather was warm, and all were anxious to begin their journey ; the officers carried as much of the baggage as they could, and the rest was divided between the men, two of whom carried the two can'^ es. They proceeded cheerfully, notwithstanding each had so great a weight, and they met with a supply of deer and oxen. A fall of snow was succeeded by heavy rain, and on the first of September they distri- buted their last piece of pemmican. The men were much fatigued with marching under such heavy burdens, but did not complain. They en- camped for the night, drenched with rain, and having no fuel to make fires of, continued in bed underneath their blankets the whole of the next day. This was the beginning of their calamities ; the storm increased, the tents were frozen, but the pangs of hunger soon became greater even than those occasioned by the cold. *' Thinking that the winter was set in, and that it would be useless to delay their journey, the order to proceed was given on the seventh, although they Jij \ liitt LOSS OF THI LARGEST CANOE. ' were all unfit to travel, being weak from hunger, and their clothes stiPened with frost. Captain Franklin was seized with a fainting fit, and with difficulty was persuaded to take a little porta- ble soup, being unwilling' to diminish the scanty Store. It revived him, however, and they went on, the ground being covered with a deep snow : a wind was blowing, which often threw down the men who carried the canoes. By this means the largest of the canoes was seriously injured. This was the wor.'>t accident that could happen, because the other canoe was too small to carry the party across the river; and it was suspected that Benoit, the Canadian, who carried it, had let it fall intentionally, that he might not have the trouble of carrying it, at which he had often murmured. The accident, however, could not now be reme- died, and therefore the canoe was chopped up, and a good fire made of it, which served to cook the i>emainder of the portable soup and arrow-root. This was but a scant}^ meal after so long a fast ; but it gave them some strength to proceed, which they did in Indian defile, that is to say, in each other's footsteps, the Canadians taking it in turns to lead the way, having some distant object point- ed out to dirfect them by. ** In this mannef they travelled aloiig for seve- ral days, their only meals consisting of half a A MUSK OX KILLED. 143 partridge cooked with tripe-de-roche, a kind of g1uti|ious mos9) which is found sticking to the rocks. This repast, scanty indeed for men who underwent such fatigues, was always received with cheerfulness and thankfulness. St. Germain and Adam went out to hunt ; and Junius bringing a report of a herd of musk oxen on the other sid$ of the river, the party crossed it in hopes of being able to kill some of them^ The best hunters were sent out, but were two hours in getting within gun- shot of them, the others all watching with eagerness andprayingfor their success. Theyiired; oneof thi^ largest fell, another too was shot, but made her es- cape* The starving party rushed to w:ork. Inafeiy minutes, they had skinned and cut up the animal; they devoured the contents of its stomach on th^ spot;, and the raw intestines were pronounced d^^ licious. The travellers had before been complain-^ ingof a tbipk fog; but it yras this veryfog whichha(J enabled them to approach near enough to shoot these oxen, who would. otherwise have fled! Hpw ignorant are we of what is best for us ! " This supply lasted, theni for two or three days; but, inste.ad of b^ing refreshed) this whQle painty seemed. iy;eakei\ed by this supply of aniipa) food* l^i^ow again wers they reducjed, to their, tripe^ dcrroche diet, which none lik^d^ but which afflict? ed Mr. Hood particularly, always giving him a^ 144 DISASTER IN CR08SIN0 THE RIVEIU pain in his inside. The Canadians, ever vora- cious, but ever improvident, had thrown away the fishing-nets, and therefore no fish could be procured. **The travellers were getting weaker and weaker, and, to encourage them to hunt, Mr. Hood lent Michael, the Troquois, his gun. Perrault, one of the voyagers, one day came and gave each of the officers a little piece of meat which he had saved from his own allowance, which was a kindness so unexpected in a Canadian, that it filled their eyes with tears. ^8 *< In attempting to cross the river, they could not but lament the loss of their best canoe. St. Ger- main the interpreter. Captain Franklin, and Belanger, a voyager, embarked in the little re- maining one, when, the breezts being fresh, it was driven to the brink of the rapid. Belanger applied his paddle, to prevent the canoe being forced into it, but he lost his balance, and the canoe was upset They kept hold of it, however, till they touched a rock, on which they managed to keep their footing till the water was emptied. Belanger then held th» canoe steady, while St Germain put Captain Franklin into it, and got into it himself; Belan- ger they were forced to leave upon the rock: the canoe dashed down the rapid, struck, and. was again emptied, but at ]a3t they got safe to shore. ^^ ^^^^^^^e=J^^/^^;2;^ ■'*-•• f;.' HAZABPOUS PASSAGE OF THE BIVER. 145 '^Meanwhile, Belanger, standing up to his middle in a freezing fapidy with his body covered with wet clodies, roared out for help. St. Ger- main ^ied to get him into the canoe, but in vain ; it was hurried again down the rapid. Adam next tried, but could not succeed. They then made a liiie, out of slings, but it did not reach him. Belanger was nearly exhausted, when the canoe was luckily^^ got near enough to throw to him a small cord, by which they dragged him, per- fectly senseless, through the rapid. He was in- stantly stripped, roUed up in blanket and, by Dr. Richardson's orders, two men imdressed themselves and lay by him in the bed; but it was some time before warmth could be restored in him. It would be difficult to describe the anxiety that Captain Franklin had experienced during these unsuccessful attempts to relieve Belanger. Every time the canoe was put out, it dashed furiously down the rapid, and he lost sight of it among the rocky islets. .Once he thought he saw it buried in the waves; and the sad fate of all his brave companions, forced to wander about the coast of the lake, rushed upon his mind. His own fate would have been decided ; for he was alone on the opposite side of the river, without gun, hatchet, or ammunition, unable even to light a fire, or relievie himself from his wet clothes. This fate, however, was spared him; the canoe was /" c^.^ 146 DISMAL STATE OF FAMINE. . ] i saved, and he has been allowed to offer thanksgiv- ings for his escape, in a civilized country* - " Belanger was soon tolerably well again, and the recollection of this accident was lost in new evils ; among these, hunger was the most acute, tripe de roche and pieces of singed hide being con- sidered a capital meal. Snow fell in showers, and their blankets scarcely kept them warm. When they encamped at night, they lighted a fire to thaw their frozen shoes, and put dry ones on ; then they wrote their journals, and prepared their supper. They ate it in the dark, and then went to bed, and kept up cheerful conversation till the warmth of the blankets had thawed their bodies so as to enable them to sleep. When they had no fire, they went to bed in their wet clothes, for fear they should freeze so hard as to prevent their being able to wear them next morning. " Peltier, the Canadian, had been carrying the canoe; but he grumbled so much, that it was given to Vaillant, who got on pretty well with it. ;:^ " Captain Franklin, who, with Dr. Richard- son, had been away from the rest of the party for a short time, returned, and found the Cana- dians over a willow fire, seated at a repast of pieces of skin, bones of deer, which had been killed by the wolves the year before, and old shoes. Peltier and Vaillant, who were with them, declared the f^'i'tt by ier the . LOSS OF THE LAST CANOE. HT canoe had had so many falls, that it was good for nothing, and they had therefore left it be- hind. > '^' - " This news was as a thunderbolt to Captain Franklin: he knew the canoe to be their only hope, arid he entreated the men to fetch it : but they re- fused; the officers were not strong enough ; and for their thoughtless obstinacy, the voyagers had to suifer far more than they could have anticipated even in their desponding state. ' • • ■ " They resumed their march*; but the snow had covered the footmarks of Mr. Back and the hun- ters, who were gone before ; and the voyagers be- came furious at the thought of being deserted. " Next morning, they killed five small deer, and thanked kind Providence for this welcome supply. The greedy Canadians ate so voraciously, that their portions were soon consumed; but, with the strength they had gained, they marched 0:5 till they came again to a part of the Coppermine River. The loss of their canoe was now felt; and the more so, as neither a ford, nor wood ^ir a raft, could be found. Mr. Back and the hunters were again sent forward, with some hopes of meeting the Indians and getting assistance from them. He was directed to cross the lake as soon as he could meet with wood for a raft, and to send a speedy supply of food to those behind. o 3 148 DR. Richardson's danger. " The remaining party were with some diffi- culty collected, and cheered by finding a putrid deerj on which they breakfasted. They set to \^ork to make a raft of willow? , but the willows were green, and, when finished, it had so little buoyancy that one man only could be supported upon it. It ik.^ht, however, suffice to transport the party, if a lin . could be conveyed to the opposite shore, and Belai;;' ?r and Benoit, the strongest of the men, tried to do this, but they failed for want of oars. Ever\ plan was attempted; and at last Dr. Rich- ardson said he would swim across the stream with the line, and haul tlie raft over. He plunged in with the line round his waist, but had not swum long before his arms were so benumbed with cold that he could not move them: he then turned upon his back and had nearly reached the shore, when his legs too got benumbed, and he began to sink. His terrified companions therefore pulled the line, and dragged him back again, almost lifeless. They rolled him in blankets, placed him before a good fire, and he fortunately was able just to speak and tell them how he ought to be treated. Towards evening, he Wras able to converse a little, and they removed him into tlie tent He had lost the sense of feeliiig on one side, &nd, when [.fipped, even the Canadians shuddered at the skeleton form which appeared before them. " It was his being so dreadfully thin and starved, i I I A NEW CANOE CONSTRUCTED. 149 that caused the cold water to take so powerful an effect upon him. What increased the pain he suffered was, that as he was getting into the water, he trod upon a dagger, and cut his foot to the bone, but this did not stop him in his bravo attempt. - . " The raft plan failing, St. Germain undertook to make a canoe out of the pieces of canvass in which they had wrapped up their clothes. In the mean time, Mr. Back returned without any news of the Indians. Officers and voyagers daily grew weaker and weaker, the former not being now strong enough to gather tripe de roche for their meals, and Samandr^, the cook, refusing to exert himself. Hepburn, the faithful Hepburn, alone remained active, and collected the supply for the daily mess of the officers. " The canoe being at last finished, the whole par- ty was transported, one by one, across the river ; and Mr. Back, with Beauparlant, St. Germain, and Belanger, again went in search of che Indians. The remaining party, after eating the remdns of their old shoes and scraps of leather, setoff over a range of black hills. The tripe de roche disagreeing with Credit and Vaillant, these men we: ^ weaker than the others ; and news was brought to the party in advance that they could proceed no farther. " Dr. Richardson turned back, and found them o 3 'I 150 SEPARATrON OF THE PARTY. lying in different places in a terrible condition ; they fell down whenever they attempted to move: and when some of the strongest men were entreat- ed to go and carry them, and bring them to the fire, they positively refused ; and even threatened to lay down their loads, and make the best of their way to Fort Enterprize. • - '•' After consulting what was to be done, it wa^ agreed that Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood should remajii behind with Hepburn, in order both to relieve the other party from the trouble of carry- ing the tert, and to assist Credit and ''/aillant, if the;' ^ixould survive. Captain Franklin with his party were to go in searcih of the Indians, or to Fort Enterprize, and to send succour as soon as any could be obtained. With a heavy heart, he took leave of his brother officers, whom nothing but the most urgent necessity would have induced hira to parcfrom." ''' - ^y^- '/^ ' • ^ Charles. These brave men v^ill perish, papa* in this wretched situation: I cannot bear the thoughts of their remaining here. " The result, my dear boy, was, I fear, nearly as melancholy as you imagine ; but, at all events, they acted as they felt it their duty to do, and their noble devotion of their own lives ought to be an example to all: though few, I trust, are likely to be exposed to such trials. I , EXHAUSTION OF MANY. ' 151 *< Mr. Hood's extreme weakness rendered it unfit for him to proceed; Dr. Richardson staid be- cause he devoted himself to succour the weak; and Hepburn remained from attachment to his offi- cers. Leaving these three, however, I will begin by telling you how Captain Franklin's travelling party got on. " The snow was very deep; and, before they had proceeded many miles, they were forced to encamp. Michael and Belanger were quite exhausted. Be- langer, bursting into tears, entreated Captain Franklin to let him return to the tent; and Michael made the same reque^*^. After passing the night in a wretched and half-perishing condition. Cap- tain Franklin consented to let these two return, sending a note by them to Dr. Richardson, to tell him of a group of pines, which would afford good shelter for the tent. Michael took a good deal of ammunition with him ; and said he would go in search of Vaillant, asking permisslor' to have his blanket, if he found him. " Leaving Michael and Belanger at the en- campment, the rest went on, v/hen Perrault and Fontano were seized with dizziness. ■ " A few morsels of burnt leather enabled them to proceed. Perrault, however, soon became too ill, and therefor^ he was sent back to the encamp- ment, where the smoke of a good fire was still seen^ j ' i ii i.. ftkm 152 DISAPPOINTMENT AT PORT ENTERPRIZE. and they watched him till he had got nearly there. The others then left the snow, which was deep and troublesome, and tried to cross the lake, but the ice was so slippery that they fell at every step. . " And now they had the grief of parting with another of their companions. Poor Fontano was again seized with dizziness, and as there was no possibility of carrying him, the other men being too weak, and no tripe de roche to nourish him with, there was no alternative but that of sending him back, to attempt to join the party at the tent. The spirits of the whole party were extremely dejected. Fontano had that morning *:. x n speak- ing of his father, and begging Captain Franklin, if they survived this journey, to take him to Eng- land, and put him in a way of reaching home, for he was an Italian. " Captain Franklin had now ^iily four voyagers with him, Adam, Peltier, Benoit, and Samandre. Augustus had gone on, being impatient at the delay caused by so many being sent back. Their journey was just the same as before ; and they ar- rived in excessive weariness at Fort Enterprize, where, alas ! no traces of human beings could be found ! No Indians; no provisions; no letter from Mr. Wentzel ; in short, they had been utterly neg- lected! Akaitcho had broken his promise; and, on entering this miserable abode, where they had 80 ; DISTRESSES AT FORT ENTERPRIZE. Id3 hoped to find rest and succour, they all burst into tears, the melancholy fate of their poor compa- nions behind rushing into their minds. • " They found indeed a note from Mr. Back, saying, that, not finding provisions at Fort Enter- prize, he was gone on with his party to Fort Provi- dence ; but that the weak state they were all in, rendered i. very probable that none of them might live to reach it. " Thus abandoned, they set to work to collect skins and tripe de roche for supper ; and some wood which they pulled up fVom the floor, made them an excellent fire. Augustus joined them ; and Solo- mon Belanger came, in a few days, from Mr. Back, to say he could not find the Indians, and to receive orders how to go on. This poor fellow having had a fall into a rapid, was covered with ice, and quite speechless : affliction had now softened the minds of the voyagers, and Captain Franklin observed with pleasure that they set about cheer- ing and warming Belanger, forgetful of their own sufferings in their care for another. . >v r ^ " When Belanger was recovered, he returned to Mr. Back, and Benoit and Augustus were sent in another direction in search of the Indians : the party at the Fort being now reduced to four. Two of these, Adan^ and Samandre, were unable to stir, 80 that Peltier and Captain Franklin had to share 154 FARTHER DISASTERS. the fatigue of collecting the wood, pounding the bones, and preparing tht wo meals, which Captain Franklin insisted they should eat every day. "The tripe de roche now became almost too much frozen to be gathered; and the strength of the par- ty declined daily. When they had sat down, they could scarcely get up again, and had each to lift another from their seats. Their mouths becoming sore from eating the bone soup, they left it off, and made soup of the skin, instead of frying it. Peltier, the strongest among them, was now almost unable to fetch wood. One day, they heard the sound of voices: " Ah, the Indians!" they cried with joy; but, alas ! no; it was Dr. Richardson and Hepburn, carrying each of them their bundle. Both parties were shocked at the eight of each other's thin ske- leton faces and Isollow ^/oices; and Dr. Richai;dson entreated the others to look and speak more cheer- fully ; little thinking that his own appearance was quite as melancholy. Hepburn had brought a partridge, which they warmed at the fire, tore into six parts, and swallowed ravenously. ' Hood and Michael are dead,* said Dr. Eit^hardson. ' And where are Perrault and Fontano ?* * They have never been heard of !* ' " Dr. Richardson brought his prayer-book, and read to them some prayers and psalms; and, rather more composed, the whole party went to bed^ i DR. niCHARDS0N*8 NARRATIVE. 155 " The next niglit, when the voyngers were nil reposing, Dr. Richardson gave Captain Fi anklin an account of what had passed since they had been parted. " < When you took leave of us, Hood and myself sat over our willow fire, and read in some good books, which a lady had provided us with bef' we left England. We were much comfort'^ ^^ed cheerfully; and if my poor friend w ;, I should look back with delii^ht tothispenod of my life. A few days after, Michael, the Troquois, came with your note, begging us io remove to a clump of pines. He said, that Solomon Bel anger had left the fire before him, and he supposed he had lost his way. He brought his gun with him, and shot us some hares and partridges ; and Hepburn ex- claimed, * Oh, how I shall love this man, if he does not tell lies, like the other voyagers.* We got to the pines, and Michael left us for a day or two; his conduct was very extraordinary and very sa- vage: sometimes he refused to hunt, or to cutwood, or to do anything we wished him; and once he answered Mr. Hood surlily, ' It is no use hunting; you had better kill and eat me.* Poor Mr. Hood was daily getting weaker; the tripe de roche gave him so much pain, that he could not eat more than a spoonful at a time. Our minds were weak as well as our bodies ; we felt as if we could not bear I t ^, .^J^< IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) // 1.0 I.I 1.25 IM 12.5 ■ 30 ■ it jy^ i 2.2 1^ 2.0 IHiil U 11.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation #.. ^^ 4 ^ '"i. '^^ c^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14S80 (716) 873-4S03 '^ 150 MR. hood's d;eath« our horrible situatipn luiy longer-— we tried not to talk of it— our only stucly w^s, not to complain. << * One morning, we begged Michael to go and hunt; but he lingered about the fire, cleaning his gun. I went to gather some tripe de roche, leaving Mr. Hood at the fire arguing with Michael, and Hepburn cutting wood at a little distance from the tent. In a few minutes, I heard a gun and Hep- burn's mournful cry ; and, getting to the tent as soon as I could, I found that poor Hood was life- less. A ball had been shot through his head. Michael attempted to make out a story, that he had been shot by accident; but the ferocious looks of this fellow, and his confiision, convinced us both that he was the murderer. Our horror was be- yond every thing ; but Hepburn and I carefully avoided letting him know that we suspected him ; for we knew, if he had done the wicked deed, he would not hesitate to kill us. « < We carried the body beneath some willows; and that evening read the funeral service, in ad- dition to the evening prayers. << ^The next day, we packed up our garments, and set out travelling. Michael was very surly, and for ever saying that we thought ill of him, and that Hepburn told tal«s of him. In short, we felt sure that he meant to kill us, and we were too weak to hope to make our escape from him. The MICBAEL SHOT. 167 first occasion on which he left us alone» Htpbum told me many things, which made me decide what to do; and, as soon as he rejoined ns, I took my pistol and shot him through the head. This was a painful deed to perform ; but the danger to which the faithful Hepburn was exposed made me think it right to do it Our journey since to this place has been a painful and fatiguing one/ << Thus ended the Doctor's sad story ; and now the two united parties put forth all their strength to provide food ; Semandr^ and Peltier getting daily worse. The poor fellows soon were too ill to eat even what food could be got them, and in the course of a few days they died. Their companions removed the two bodies into a distant part of tihe house, but were not strong enough to carry them out, or to buiy them. This loss of their brothers in misfortune was a great shock to all the party, and their spirits were very low. Their stock of bones was finished, and the fatigue of taking the hair off the skin to make it into soup, was now too great for any of them. The hardness of the floor, which was only covered when they slept by a. blanket, had caused great soreness to their skeleton bodies ; but even in the midst of these hardships, they could enjoy three or four hours* sleep at night; and, strange to say, their dreams yieie always about the pleasure of feast- V 158 ARRIVAL OF SUCCOURS. ?" I ing; In proportion as they lost their strength, they lost the power of directing their minds. They were pettish with one another, without any reason. If one recommended the other to take a warmer place, the other was angcy^ because he could not bear the idea of moving. ': "Hepburn, at last cried out;' *lf :we do ever reach: Englandy I wdnder if we shall recover the use of our understandings.' .. '^ ** At last Adam appeared dying; Captain Frank- lin was. employed in cheering him, aiid' Dr. Rich- ardson and Hepburn were cuttmg.Vood, when a musket shot was heard, and three Indians came up to the house. The two officers knelt down and re- turned thanks to heaven for their deliverance; and Adam tried to get up, but fell down. The Indians had been sent by Mr; Back, and brought some dried deers' meat and tongues; Dr. Richardson, Captain Franklin, and Hepburn, ate voraciously, and of course suffered dreadfully, and had no rest all night. Adamcould not feed hims^lf^ and therefore .was better off. The Indians gave him smaH pieces at a time, and would not Icthini eat tbo much. One Indian was then despatched to Mr. Back, to request him to send some more food ; and Crooked-foot and the Rat, the two others, re- mained to take care of the party. These' kind cfeatiires never rested till they had made the tra> it I L I f I i 1 1 ' i I i I Ll II 1 '*■ ■ " 1 ''■"'■' " - . ,- _" '-.'■■ ■ . ~ ■ ^ I : : - • '/ ■ \ '' ■ ■--■ .i'^ '- ' ■ r ■■_.•* ' • ', • ■ '':' "■'.' ■ 5 J ■ ■ * ' ."'. ■ ■ r i! ' ' .■; 1 ".*- y !.' • -/. , ■*•"■" ■ [ \ «■ ,■< f % * •" ■- -. t.'' :£..■! ■ w; ^ r- INDIAN BENEVOLENCE. 159 vellers somewhat comfortable. They buried the dead bodies, cleared the room of the dirt, kept up cheerful fires, and persuaded the travellers to wash and shave themselves. Their robust forms, which appeared quite gigantic aside of the poor travellers, surprised them as much as the active manner in which they set about every thing. A fresh arrival of food and Indians, completed the happy feelings of our sufferers ; and before very long, they finished their journey to the camp, aided by the tender cares of the Indians, who fed them like children, cooked for them, and pre- pared their encampment. Thus you see, my boys, there are kind-hearted savages, as many, many stories will prove. " The reception of this sad party at the Chief's camp was very striking; they were looked at with compassion, and in solemn silence, for a quarter of an hour, as a mark of condolence. Their old friend Akaitcho would not suffer a word to be spoken till they had tasted food. He cooked for them himself, which in general he would have considered as very unbecoming his dignity. The next day, every Indian in the tribe came to see them, and to shew his pity for what they had suffered. These poor creatures themselves were in great affliction, having lost three of their relations in a rapid. Every morning and evening, p 2 \i I i i!| n i 1 i ! u 160 MR. back's narrative. they sang out the names of their lost relations^ amid showers of tears. ** A very few days brought letters from Mr. Back, as well as from Eoglaod, by which they had the joy of learning of Captain Parry's safe return, and that they themselves had received pro* ' motion. Mr. Back, however, had not sent the pre* ^ sents^ which had been promised to Akaitoho, for his assistance to the expedition, at which Captain Franklin was much vexed. --^ '' " After taking leave of Akaiteho Tor a time^ the party again set forward, and soon reached Fort Providence, where they were once more in a comfortable dwelling. They fell on their knees in gratitude for this blessing. '^ Mr. Back had a sad story to relate ; but it shall be a short one, as I see, Charles, your face is quite long with the dismal adventures of the party. -^ ■. ,.*4> ;«; j,-;?,^-v /■:. . ** You remember, that Mr. Back set off with St» Germain, Belanger, and Beauparlant, to get suc^^ cour at FortEnterprize, and send it to the others, whom they had left behind. Their Journey was of the same melancholy kind as that of the others* In crossing the lake, Belanger feU into the ice two or three times, and was got out by the others fasten* ing their worsted belts together, and dragging him up : then, by lighting a fire, they pre^nted his lions^ . i Mr. they s safe 1 pro* ''^ Bpre* [>, for Lptain time^ ached 3re in knees but it r face f the thSt. t suc^ thers, i^asof thevs4 etwo isten- ;hiin d his II MR. back's narrative. 161 clothes from freezing ; but it was long before he could get warm, though he was so near the flame as to burn his hair : a gun-cover and an old pair of shoes provided him with a meal or two. Their ar- rival at Fort Enterprize occasioned them the same degree of disappointment as it did the others. Mr. Wentzel had taken away the trunks, but left no guide to direct them where to find the Indians. ** According to St. Germain's advice, the party next went into the woods, to look for deer. Beau- parlant became very weak, and complained that he could not go on. Mr. Back comforted him, and told him that, a few steps farther, they should find fuel to make a fire. * WelJ, take your axe, Mr. Back, and I will follow ; I shall be with you, when your encampment is made.* This was the answer that the poor fellow made, and the last words he was heard to utter. Mr. Back and St. Germain soon found some deer's heads peeping out of the snow. They had been left there by the wolves, and were without eyes or tongues* < Thank God, we are saved !' burst from their lipg, and they shook hands for joy. • << It got dark; Beauparlant did not come ; they fired guns, and he answered the signals. They had not strength to go to him, but Mr. Back hoped that he had lighted himself a fire, which, witli his blanket, would keep him warm through p 3 ! ( 1^2 RETCRX Ta FORT CHIPftWrAir. the night. Next morning, St. Geiin^ wetic to fetch him; but returned mth his. biundle only, and his eyes filled with tears. He had found the poor fellow dead : he w«a frozen to death> Mr. Baqk was horror-struck. ** Belanger returned from the party at. the fori^ and the melancholy tale of the ftve he had left therey made the interpreter, Su Getrn^in». shed tears in telling it. << After another interval of long suffed|ng» the cry of * Footsteps of Indians !' was heard froni Be-r langer, and the sight of an Indian bpy with some meat completed their joy. They joined ' Akait- eho's camp in the evening ; and the go^ ol<| man ^fts so mueh affeeted with the story of tbf^ sufferings, that he instantly despatched the. tin^ly succour to the party a^t Fort Enterprise, withoul \yliich they n^ust soon, have perishedf ** As we have seen the twQ parties safe, little xp^re is to be. added.. Captain Franklin and Dr.. Eiflhardson travelled in carioles to Moos^e-deei! i^J#nd, wljier^ they were joined by Mr* Back, and where, surrounded by kind friends, they regained g^aduajly dij^ir health,^ so thatj. by the return of sparing, th^y wei^ abl^ to walk*. Hepburn, how- ev^r,, wa^ confined to his bed by a rheumatic fevec fcNT sixr weeks. In May, they Embarked lor Fort Chip^wyan,.fron9i i«hkh placj^^theyhftd th^ p.l^a^iire t : UNCLE JUCHARD's RETVIUf. IdS of sending, to. Akaitcho and his oompanioiM, the stores and presents, which had been promised* They were very glad to be able to do this, especi- ally as, the leader's mother having died, the tribe had broken every thing in their grief, and were' in great distress. At Fort Chipewyan, Captain Franklin sent home the remaining Canadian, voyagers; and, furnished with a canoe and a guide, and accompanied by Augustust arrived at York Factory, after a journey of five thousand five hundred and fifty miles." PART Hi. CHAPTER L The melancholy sensations caused by the his^^ tory of Captain Franklin's adventures and suffer* ings were hardly worn off, when Tom and Charles saw a post-chaise drive up the Ipng avenue, and ran to the portico, which they reached in tiipe to open the chaise-door, for uncle Richavd to descend. Charles shook hands with him with un-r. alloyed delight; while Tom fixed his searching, eyes upon him, as much as to say, have you been, suffering privations and hardships like those we have beejn haariing of? Q^!| uncle ^ichardlooked 164i DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. younger and more cheerful than ever ; and he soon satisfied even Tom that his adventures had been of a very safe and amusing nature. *' For, depend upon it» my boys, I have had a merry time of it among those Esquimaux animals, as we call them ; and if I do not make you laugh with my stories of them, you do not deserve to hear them." The whole family were too Well assured of the power uncle Richard possessed to amuse and in- terest them, not to press him to give them the whole narrative of his voyage, as he had done be- fore; and uncle Richard, flattered by their deter- mination to be pleased, was not long in consenting. Tom's maps had been ready spread upon the study table for several days; and Charles, who had been studying short hand, was provided with a little red book and pencil, to take notes of the most in- teresting parts of his uncle's history. Various sketches, which their uncle had made, lay in a portfolio at his elbow, but were not produced be- forehand, that they might have their full effect when aided by explanation. ^ ** As you took the trouble, my friends, to follow me in my last voyage, I shall skip over the parti- culars of this, which was very similar, and merely state, that we left London in May, 1821 ; Cap- tain Parry commanding the Fury, Captain Lyon -the Hecla, in which ship I too had the honour to DUTCH COLONISTS. 105 be, and the Nautilus transport aocompanying to convey our stores. It was more than a month be- fore we saw the first iceberg, when we old sailors laughed at the young ones, for hastening on deck to look at these huge floating hills of ice. Our scene of action here began. After unloading the Nautilus, and taking her goods on board, we de- spatched her back again to old England, with heaps of letters and messages, and saluted her crew with three cheers, as they disappeared from our view* AVe had a little diversion on our par^sage, by falling in with a ship carrying some Dutch people, who were going to colonize on the Red River. As we got near them, we observed them waltzing on deck, the men in grey jackets, the women in long- eared mob caps. With our ships surrounded by ice, and the thermometer at the freezing point, we could not help laughing at this unseasonable bail. We found, on getting up to them, they had been a long time upon the voyage, and almost despaired of ever getting to their journey's end. They bad done what they could, however, to make themselves happy ; several marriages had taken place, the sur- geon acting as a parson ; and the happy couples were always married on fine days, when they could have a dance in the evening. *' Our voyage was becoming tedious enough, as we had been nineteen days going sixty miles ; and» r 166 SAVAGE ISLANDS. as we had no ladies on board, we could not make so merry as our Dutch neighbours. We had some sport, however, with a huge bear, which we spied lying comfortably on a piece of ice ; he was chased by two boats, and moved quietly to the water : he swam rapidly, boldly turning his face to his pursuers as long as he had any strength, and we had hard work to kill him. He was a very fat and bulky fellow, of a yellov/.white, and very sticky to the touch ; our seamen partook of the flesh, and liked it pretty well ; and a large tub of oil for winter store was procured from it. •• *' We were now off Savage Islands, which you may observe are but at the beginning of Hudson's Strait, when we had our first interview for this season with the Esquimaux, which is a general name for all the inhabitants of the most northern parts of North America, and whom you may con- sider as friends, for I shall make you familiar enough with them, before I have done. A shout, as usual, announced the approach of their canoes ; and *Ha !* *Ha'a V resounded loudly through the ships; five oomiaks and thirty canoes were by the side of us in less than an hour, and a merry bar* ter there was between us ; their curiosities being as eagerly demanded by us, as our iron and toys were by them. The oomiaks, or luggage boats, which convey the women, were each steered by an old ot make lad some we spied s chased ater : he v to his d we had nd bulky cy to the md liked )r winter hich you BLudson's for this , general northern nay con- familiar A shout, r canoes ; )ugh the were by erry bar- > being as :oys were ;s, which y an old M ESQUIMAUX WOMEN. 167 man with an oar, who seemed to have some kind of authority over the ladies ; for he occasionally kept them in order by a box on the ear. There were some few boys; but the rest were chiefly women, who at first were shy, but afterwards became noisy enough. As for the features of the fair sex, I wish I could describe them ; you might indeed see them for ever, without discovering the colour of their skin, under the coating of blood, grease, and dirt, which covers it; their jet-black locks, some- times knotted up, but generally streaming in wildness about, added to their frightful and dis- gusting appearance. " The old women are so truly hideous, with in- flamed eyes, wrinkled skin, and black teeth, that I am not all surprised at former voyagers reporting they had seen witches on this shore ; 1, indeed, would rather compare them to dressed- up ouran-outangs. I must not forget to tell you, that after a bargain was concluded, the ce- remony of licking was never omitted ; even a razor was drawn over the tongue, as unconcernedly as if it had been made of ivory. I cannot describe the confusion and din of this scene of barter ; all were so eager to sell, that many went away bereft of almost all their clothes. In exchange for a nail, I got a spear with an ivory head, and a line and bladder attached to it ; in fact, iron is in their eyes of the same value as gold in our*s. w, i. \ 168 £9QUi3IAUX DANCE. << We soon found that pur new friends delighted in dancing; and a fiddler was despatched to the ice to play for them ; jumping, and staniping with all their might, was the only figure they^attempted; the fiddler, who was a merry fellow, sqon caught the infection, and it was not long before the whole floe of ice was covered with officers, Esquimaux, and sailors, all jumping away. The women ravages were amazingly pleased with a rosy young sailor ; they patted his face, and danced round him wherever he went. A great joke among these queer people was, to give a shout in one of your ears, and at the same moment, a good box on the other, which made the person so assailed look wondrous silly, to the great enter- taiament of all about. There was no end to the amusement these people afforded us, united with the boisterous mirth of our own crews. " When all parties were thoroughly tired, and my fellow messmates were gone to bed, I took a turn rpi|nd, to look at the various groupes of our new friends, who were eating their suppers in their boats; lumps of raw flesh of seals, fat, birds, and entrails, formed the delicious meal ; and a young girl, whom we had styled the belle of the party, was biting the inside of a seal into pieces, an4 distributing it to her neighbours in the bo^t. , " Our ships received various other visits from the savages, whilst they reipained in the peighboui- f / \ b delighted ched to the i^iping with attempted; illow, soon long before ith officers, iway. The 1 with a rosy md danced joke among lout in one ^nt, a good person so ;reat enter- end to the united with ■y tired, and , I took a pes of our ers in their birds, and d a young the party, Dieces, an4 boQt. ts from the leighboui'- ESQUIMAUX r ANTS. 169 hood; but I do not remembei many other striking peculiarities, except, indeed, one which shocked me much. I think I told you, that you might have anything for a knife: what do yOu think of a woman offering me her child, a little girl, four years of age, in exchange for a knife which I was bartering? This melancholy fact shews us how dangerous any uncontrolled passion is, when these untutored beings, at other times so fond of their children, would be ready, for the love of gain, to part with them to strangers. *^ In passing Nottingham Island, shortly after, ' we had a still more picturesque party to visit us. There was only one boat full, and it was com- manded by a fat old woman; and among her noisy ^^ crew lay, at the bottom of her boat, an Infant, in a sound slumber. Great pains indeed had been taken to make it comfortable; its two legs being crammed into a boot, and its mouth was filled with a large lump of whale's blubber, which, every now and then, it gave a suck at, in its sleep, which was unbroken in spite of many a thunip and kick. The young girls in the boat gave all they received to the old lady coxswain, who deposited them in her usual pocket, the mouth; buttons, nails, ' needles, pins, and beads, all found their way there; and as she never stopj^ed talking, they soon found their way out, a girl being stationed * beside her to pick up the stray articles. ! ! no, SEA UNICORNS. '< Our object now was to leave the usual track of Hudson's Bay; and, steering noith-west, we soQn entered something resembling a deep broad strait, to the north of Southampton Island, and bounded on the north by islands. Here we were again beset and thumped pretty severely by the ice ; but in a few hours an open sea appeared, in the midst of which the sea unicorns played around us. A shoal of these beautiful nsh, with their long horns and glossy backs, spotted like coach-dogs, is a striking sight. In vain did I attempt to kill one; but I ascertained its size to be twenty feet long, including its horn, which is five or six. " Was not this a strange world we were living in? Human beings, dressed in skins, and looking like animals, walking up to our ships across the - ice; bears prowling about, as if not expecting, to . meet with disturbance; and hundreds of white whales close beside us under the rocks! <* On the ITth of August, we anchored in a large and handsome bay, off a low shingly beach. The country beyond was rich in arctic vegetation; such as mosses, grasses, poppies, and ground wil«> lows; and our sportsmen shot birds of various and beautiful kinds. << The remains of Esquimaux huts, in the form of limekilns, were seen; and a curious building, made of two jaw-bones of a whale, set upright and covered with whalebone, to which our sailors a isual track i-wiest, we leep broad dand, and •e we were by the ice ; ed, In the around us. long horns dogs, is a kill one; feet long, ^ere living td looking across the . meeting, to. of white in a large ch. The igetation; ound wil- irious and the form building, t upright ur sailors SKELETON OF A WHALE. 171 helped themselves plentifully to make brooms for their ships, leaving a boarding-pike in exchange, to be found by the invisible owners, whenever they should arrive there. " We had now ascertained that we were in the Frozen Strait, discovered by Middleton; and, after some days' sailing, we passed an opening to the south, called Sir Thomas Roe*s Welcome, and ran into Repulse Bay. Here we went on shore, and found various traces of the Esquimaux ; for these curious people move from place to place, just as it suits their convenience for seal hunting: and to raise a town, wHh them, is hardly the work of more hours than it is of years with us. Circles of stones with which they fasten down their skin tents, broken arrows, knives made of wood, ivory, and slate, models of canoes, and a variety of other articles, shewed that the Esquimaux had not de- serted the establishment very long. •" While most of our people went shooting on the shore, pleased at taking this first walk in North America, I was busied in searching for natural curiosities, and I soon found a complete skeleton of a whale : it was lying on a little nook in the steep side of a hill ; and, as it was much too heavy for the savages to have conveyed, I was puzzled enough to know how it could get there. I found, likewise, two tail-less mice, which were such 88 1T2 REPULSE BAY. ■^, .voracious little things, that they not only devoured bread, cheese, meat, and grass, but, in a few hours, . when I looked into the house where I had put them, one had half eaten the other up. " We were now satisfied that we were really on the coast of America; and therefore continued , coasting Repulse Bay : but we were so constantly delayed by the ice, that our progress was little. ,We passed Gore Bay, and came to the. entrance . of a small inlet, which Captain Parry left us to explore with two boats, provisioned for a week. . He soon met with some natives; three of whom . ran by the side of the water till the boats landed. .When Captain Parry went up to them, their salutation was truly ludicrous; for, with the great- .est gravity, they stroked their breasts, in silence. , They then led them to tents, which were all unfur- ;.nished, but where they found women and children; and the appearances of all were more prepossessing ^ than any we had before met with ; the ^b^nce of the smell of train-oil was a great ijpriprovement ; . th^^se people subsisting chiefly on deer, instead of \ seals. Some presents, of course, were n^de to them; but nothing charmed them so much as an empty tin canister, which they hugged and kissed in rapture. Before the visit was over, one of them had contrived to steal a pewter jug and . twu spoons: but the thief was soon discovered; m LYON liJLET. 173 and, I am sorry to say, she was a lady, who, instead of being ashamed at being found out, laughed immoderately. She had on a pair of im- mense boots, one of which she pulled off and sold willingly enough, but nothing could induce her to part from the other ; this led to a suspicion, and the things missing were at last discovered in this said boot. " Captaiti Parry returned to the ships, without finding any outlet; and after naming this inlet *Lyon Inlet,* we attempted to move out of it; but the ice still beset us with innumerable floes, and we were forced to anchor in a snug birth, which we named * Safety Cove.* ** We went ashore twice every day to walk, and to observe the state of the ice. In one of my walks, I was much amused with watching an ermine hunt a mouse by its tracks, just as a hound does a fox. In looking for this beautiful little creature among the snow, after he was killed, I actually trod upon him, so pure a white was his body, and his black tail being hid under the snow. " After waiting for many a day, it was decided that, as no more summer would appear this year, we must pass the winter in this spot ; and there- fore every preparation was made^ similar to what had been done before, both for the safety of the ships, and the comfort of the men. Before we q3 ■ { i I " r i 174 ARCTIC FOXES. left England, a large subscription had been raised for purchasing theatrical clothing; and play-bills were soon made out, every'officer cheerfully put- ting his name down : and those who were fixed upon to perform the parts of ladies, generously cut off the beard and whiskers they had saved to protect them from the cold; our theatre was large, our dresses were good, and we began with the play of the "Rivals," which was performed with brilliant success and unbounded applause. ..,♦** We had little amusement now but what the few animals we could find afforded us ; of these, foxes were the most numerous ; many had been caught, some killed, and some kept by the ships as pets. The Arctic fox is smaller than that in England ; and, being covered with white woolly hair, resembles a shock dog ; its eyes are bright, and its look cunning, and it is impossible to ap- proach it unawares, for it wakes in a moment from the soundest sleep. These suspicious little fellows never enjoy their food, unless they can first hide it, which they generally do by heaping snow over it, pressed down with their nose ; mine, which I kept up, and delighted to watch, I frequently observed to coil his chain round and round the meat, tl^hen there was no snow within reach; and as the chain of course unrolled itself, every time he left the spot, he would patiently coil it over CMR!S>'MA8 GAMBOLS. 175 and over again ; till at last he was forced to eat his meat without having been able to hide it first. " Our first Christmas day was a most cheery one ; after divine service on board the Fury, we had good roast beef dinners, with cranberry pies and puddings of every shape, with a full allowance of spirits ; and our crew, not very sober, forced every officer to go in turn, out upon the lower deck, and have his health drunk in three cheers. The next day, we had a famous ball, and a meri'y fel- low personated an old cake-woman, with lumps of frozen snow in a bucket; and his cakes were in such request, that he was obliged often to replenish his bucket. Our miith, however, was stopped by a report of a bear being seen on the ice between the ships, and arms were prepared, but old Bruin appeared not. " The new year, 1822, was now ushered in, and found us all in good health, end in excellent spi- rits; nothing had contributed more to this last circumstance than the school, in which the men had taught and been taught; there was not a man now on board, who could not read and write; and on Christmas day, sixteen copies were sent to our Captain, written by men, who, two months be- fore, had scarcely known their letters. There was something very pleasing in the interest our honest tars took in learning; and these copies were 13 ti : i E:;n. ') 1T6 AURORA BORIBALIS. sent up) with the pride of a good little school- boy, rather than that of a stout and able sailor. " You will remember, that I described to you, in my last history, the effect of the sun's total absence from the earth: that it was far from gloomy. We were in a very different latitude here ; we never entirely lost the sun, although it shone with diminished brightness, which wouldhave been rather painful to the eyes, if it had not been for the blueish colour, which always accompanies the light of the sun in frosty weather. The nights were very beautiful, the moon and stars shining most brilliantly in the clear sky; the aurora borealis delighted me more than ever; its first appearance resembles a shower of falling stars, such as a rocket emits, which come trickling down the sky : the sudden burst of light makes one fancy a noise is heard; but, after much observation, I am still inclined to think it merely fancy. One dark and calm night, I stood upon the ice till midnight, watching this beautiful phenomenon; it began in an arch, which spread from east to west : it had lasted a quarter of an hour, when, a storm arising, the arch became agitated, then shot forth into rays and streamers, and spread over all the heavens, flying with the rapidity of lightning, and giving an air of magic to the whole scene. No Wonder that the poor untutored Indians imagine the spirits of their fathers are riding in the storm. .xz '.'*>•: little school- 1 able sailor, sribed to you, be sun's total was far from erent latitude I, although it ch would have had not been accompanies The nights stars shining urora borealis It appearance ch as a rocket :he sky : the cy a noise is I am still * ne dark and midnight, n; it began to west: it en, a storm ti shot forth over all the itning, and scene. No ns imagine the storm. TI 1 • 1 ■ i '! i (^ylw/Z^ylyi.' J^yw/^ ' jJ/>.-i/4 ^Jfizi by J.Eirru. Sf/iiulf l'/Sir,-A Y.irti. ERMINES AND ARCTIC BSARfl. ItT '* For two or .ree dijf about, thin tiirn^, the tracks of a little animal had been seen about the hUp, and at last he jumped from under a heap uf . saik None could agree about its colour, wfiich the greater part, however, thought was broirn; . when, behold, it was caught in a trap, and proved to be a mot <> ai liful white ermine. Ah! Louisa, if I 'lad dou^ as I wished, and brought it to you, how y^a would have petted it I But it was a ^ tize little fellow; and) as soon as daylight was allowed him in his new house, he shook the bars with the greatest fury, uttering most pas- sionate cries. We could scarcely^ by threats or teasing, make him go into his sleeping den ; and when he did so, the slightest npise would bring .him back to attack his tyrants. He soon began to take food from my hand, but not till he had tried all he could to reach and bite my fingers. Poor fellow I he was killed by an accident, not many days after we had caught him. << You, Tom, who have studied natural history, have heard it mentioned as a fact, that bears sleep during the winter months; well, I must tell you, that I Liiiubt the fact; at any rate, as relating to the Arctic female bear, we had already seen two since the cold had set in; and the ship's carpenter met one also ccvming up to him, but he prudently retreated. They probably feed upon 178 WELCOME ViSItORS. : I IB i 1 1 1 II ! 18 ! ! I ' I seals in winter as well as summer, and these come almost dsAly from the sea. '< Doubtless they, as well as all other living beings in this pitiless region, suffer great hard- ships during the winter; we found in a fox's i'' mach a huge ^eap of rope yarn and line, among which was a piece of stuff six inches long ! This proves that they are often in a state of famine, and that, like the human race, on such occasions, they care little with virhat they satisfy the cravings of their appetite." CHAPTER 11. " Notwithstanding all our exertions to pass the weary winter days cheerfully, we were be- ginning to feel a fiatness in the scene, when, on the iirst of February, the cry of * Esquimaux ! Esquimauxt* announced the approach of a large troop of these amusing people, coming over the ice from the west. " A party of six went from the ships to meet the welcome strangers ; and we walked behind one another, for fear of terrifying them. As we got up to them, they halted, formed aline, and silently stroked their breasts ; and we of course did the same. V/e made them some prejsents, which they received only with a vacant stare; but 1 SNOW HOUSES. 179 we presently found that th^y understood barter as well as their countrymen ; and when we began to purchase their skins and whalebone, they soon got free and easy with us. " An invitation to their huts was gladly ac- cepted by us; we came to theii^ af|er a walk of two miles, and found them situated upon a shv<)lv- ing beach, within so full a view of th^ ships,, that we must have seen them if they had been there the day beforCf <* We approached the first dwelling, where six families silently awaited us, the women and chil- dren being seated, with their legs doubled under them, behind the men. A very few present^ pro- cured us a friendly reception by the ladies, ;as we visited each hut ; and, guess our astonishn^ent, after we had crept through long low passages of snow, to find ourselves in dome-shaped buildings, built entirely of snow, and illuminated by lamps, which spread a brilliant and many-coloured light through the transparent walls. The natives were all in. their best dresses of dark-coloured deer- ^ skin, which formed a striking contrast with their white habitations. We soon became most excel- lent friends; and, after promising to spend the next day with them, we returned to the ships, accompanied by a merry group of these people, to whom we sang songs and choruses as we walked , ! ! 1$IP ESQUIMAUX DIVERSIONS. aloDg. These delighted them much, particu- larly when they ended in * tol de riddle loll,' which made them always scream and jump for pleasure. A dance now and then varied our amusements till we got to the ships. " They walked very soberly about deck for a short time, contented with giving a scream when they saw any thing that pleased them ; but order did not long remain, for our seamen set them the ex- ample of frolic, which they were ready enough to follow. Every leg was set in motion by the help of a drum and a fiddler. Some old women sang, while others danced in groups about them : the scene was very diverting. Our seamen soon dis- covered that an Esquimaux could * do any thing,' and thferefore insisted upon their chewing tobacco ; but Captain Lyon would not let them practise this cruel joke, when he found that they were in- deed swallowing handfuls of it. There was some difficulty in regaling our new acquaintance with food agreeable to them ; but at last we cooked up a mixture of bread-dust and train-oil, and handed it in a tin-pot to every hungry person, who licked it up with t'iii6 end of his tongue. ' <' I singled out an old man, who appeared more intelligent than the rest ; he seemed to have an ear for music, for he listened with rapture to a hand«organ and a musical snuff-box. This old miiK's^ ri|^t nflMtie wfls < Bladder;* btit, tffi he eairt- #ied a \spBM kettle, which had been given him, he y^&s dailed by 011F sailors * Kettle.' <« And tkovf, Chdries, are you tired of thescf savaged; or should you like to accomfMHiy me in frty next Visit to them?" *< Oh, uncle, pray let me hear a great dtskl about them; I am quite amused with their Odd habits, and I expect even to like them^ for I have not heard a word of their steiding or begging as yet," cried Charles. ^ I can assure you, Charies, . you feel as I did^ I was quite impatient till the next day's visits for I took it into my head that we should discover more character and ingenuity among these sb* vflges than we had anticipated; and we had begun our^ acquaintance under favourable circumstances, since, as yon observe, neither begging nor stea^ ing had as yet taken place. *^ When we went to the huts, next day, all the men were ranged in a line to recmve us ; and after stroking their breasts, they retired to tbelv huts to welcome us there, which they, <^ quickly and respectfully. *^ A day's smoke had greatly diminidied ' the trsnisparency'of the inside of the huts^ thoti^h they wene stiilvery light. And now yoU' may look at my ^little drawings with these vi»iouS clusleesof m ■ '-'.-■■■ t.' . ■• 182 . ESQUIMAUX FURNITURE. " W huts, some with two and some with three domes. Thirteen families lived in this little village^ ejach family in a Separate dome. I entered one of the largest huts by a passage about a yard across, and high enough for one to enter by stooping a little. It was very long, but led into a shorter one, which opened through a hole into the dome : this was about seven feet high and the same across, and led into three arched-roofed buildings. The arches were laid in true architectural order,' and the slabs were cut out of blocks of snow about two feet long and four or six inches thick. Azseat was raised on one side, which was used as the bed-' place of the family, and this was covered, first, with whalebone and sprigs of andromeda, then with a warm covering of deer-skin clothes, and a substi" tute for blankets formed of deer-pelts, which had fringes of leather sewed round the edges by way of ornament, and which covered the whole. *' You must not imagine that the hut I have introduced you to was without windows ; a broad piece of transparent fresh-water ice, forming part of the roof, and placed over the door, lighted each dome, and gave a pleasing light, free from gla^e^ similar to what is thrown through ground glass. — What think you of this snow habitation, which was completed, as they told me, by two men in a couple of hours,' one man cutting the slabs, the other laying them ?" ^ • I w e dpmes« ige, eiftch e of the ross, and g a little, le, which this was ro$s» and rs. The •der,''and bout two fei u -Ai seat 5 the bed- first, with en with a a substi- ^hich had ;s by way lole. ut I have ; a broad ning part ited each om gla^e, i glass. — m, which men in a ilabs, the ESQUIMAUX FURNITURE. ]88 Tom. I think, uncle, that they are amazingly ingenious to make any kind of house out of snow; and, how they can be warm or durable, rather puzzles me to imagine. " The snow, you must remcltnber, is frozen very hard, and is as thick, and almost as solid, as stone; there is no sun to thaw them, for, of course, they vanish when the summer reappears. The furniture of the inside I am now going to describe to you; I cannot say it would suit our notions of comfort. " The first thing which struck me on entering the hut, was a frame, or kind of table, made of old fishing spears; this supported a long wooden hoop, across which a net was spread, to hang wet clothes or skins on, to be dried by the lamp; on this frame the master always put his gloves, when he comes in, first carefully scraping off the snow. '* Suspended from this frame hung a stone coffin-^shaped pot ; and beneath this was a stone lamp, the most important part of the furniture, as it afforded both light and heat to the interior of the dome. The middle of the lamp is filled with fat ; round the edge is ranged the oil and wicks : the latter are made of moss, trimmed by asbestos, stone, or wood. A bunch of moss hangs against the wall, to supply the lamp; the lamp was prop- ped up by pieces of horn and wood, just higb R 2 ^ M K : 1 f li 1 ' ; 18^ ESQUlBfAyX ^](|:A OF CIiEi^NI^INESS. '^^ «|ioMgh from the grou^4 to hfiye n\k^r it a whfile- jbooe pot to catch the oil ih^^tdrppped. frond it. <' I mq^t remind yoyj however, thffJt I ^rp now describing a large-sized dojuofi ; laimy which I afterwards went into, had none of this grand frame, their pots being suspended from a bone fixed in the wall. I ^as much amused by going into one where the man had two wives: the senior wife, who was a tall fat lady, had a large lamp at pneend of the domei, and a large pot, wiiich held a gallon; while the younger wife, who was a little round body, bad a tiny lamp, ^ud a pot which only held a pint. Captain Pai'iy h^ ^ miiM^ %o buy one of these lamps at the time jit was burning ; and you will have 5ome;slig;ht notioi^ of the m<<^ pf our new fi'iends, as to what they eat^ wheii I tell you, that the womap, to clean it, SQraped ,of^ wi};h her fingers the soot ai)d .oil with which it w«s co- vered, and put them into her mouth* She then licked th0 lamp quite clean with her tongue, and good-humouredly joined in the laugh we all raised '^.t the sight of her sooty face. ; ' << A large wooden tr^y resepibling a but jC^huts, ■ the chU- ESQUIMAUX CHILDREN. 185 «1ren, whose modest and gentle manners might shame many a well-bred but spoiled child in Eng- land; and, though my nephews and nieces, I trust, are exceptions, I silently determined that when I returned home, I would tell them many a story of the pleasing and orderly conduct of these young savages. It was not their outward appear- ance which prepossessed me ; for in their large dresses, and smothered with dirt, when their faces were hidden, they resembled puppy dogs, or young wolves, or bears ; but their faces were rosy, fat, and good-humoured, the picture of health, with jetty locks, and sparkling black eyes." Charles. Oh, uncle, I wish you had ac- cepted of the woman's offer in exchange for your knife; and I should have been delighted in imi- tating the modest manners of your little savage. " You are inclined to be saucy, I see, Charles," answered the good-humoured uncle. " But I must proceed with my story. The hut I was visiting was Kettle's, whose wife, Oomgna, received me most politely, and presented me with a piece of reindeer fat, which of course I ate. In return for her civility, I presented her with a looking-glass and some few trinketSj which delighted her much ; as, excepting a small bracelet of beads, the women have no ornaments but the kak-keen or tattoe, with which the body is covered. Now I will de- ft 3 \ \ A \ ' 'I '■ I I i 186 TATTOOING. y^ scribe tx> you this kak-Jceen ; for, being a9 anxious as Tom to ki^ow the bottom of ev^ry thing) I put myself into the hands of Mrs. Kettle, whom I adopted for my * Amama,* or mother, an4 begged that she would tattoe a pattern upon my arm. << Accordingly, she got a fine needle, and with her teeth tore a thread off a deer's sinew : this was the sewing apparatus. 3he next put her fingers !.o the bottom of the stone pot, not to make her hands blacker, that was impossible, but to collect some soot, which, with a little oil and a good deal of saliva, she made into a mixture ; then taking a piece of whalebone well blackened, she drew upon my arm a variety of figures. What the figures were I cannot say; but her companions were called upon to look, and they all enjoyed a good laugh over them. She began her job, after blackening her thread with soot, by taking a pretty deep stitch in my arm, putting her thumb on the place as she drew the thread through, an|d beginning one stitch where she left off the other. My flesh being tough, she broke a needle, and got on slow- ly, and after some dozen or two of stitches, my curiosity was so far satisfied, that I begged her to give over. Her operations were finished by rub- bing the part with oil, to stop the blood. The in- flammation and pain which followed this orna- menting of my arm w^ not very trifling, and Efi^^UIMAUX HONESTY. 187 therefore the Esquimaux ladies may be said to pay dear for their ornaments, which look like light blue lines upon the skin. With this painful or- nament their whole bodies are covered over. " We found our new acquaintance, in every hut, good-humoured and merry, and their perfect honesty delighted us ; they would not even call a bead their own till they had asked permission to do so. I was determined, in fact, to put their honesty to the proof, and I left behind me, in Kettle's hut, all the valuables I had brought with me, either for barter or for presents ; knives, scis- sars, looking-glasses, and all. I left a number of savages behind me, and yet when I returned, not an article was missing, they had all been care- fully, covered up. Most of them, indeed, after the merest trifle had been given them, such as a needle or a button, would return soon after to offer a pair of mittens, or a skin, or something which they thought would be valuable, in return. - ^•-.- , '^ I must not forget the dogs, which are so im- portant a part of an Esquimaux establishment : while young they are taken great care of ; and we saw, during our visit this day, many litters, with their mothers, lying on the beds of their masters; but the full-grown dogs were in a starving state, as, in consequence of the great eating powers of their masters, there is little food left for them. '88 PERBONiS or THR feSQtlMAUX. »^ Fortunately for us, hunger had a contrary effect on them to what it has on dogs in general, and these terrific animals were particularly gentle and tame. The Esquimaux prevent them from running any great distance by fastening the fore-leg to the neck, so that if they attempt to run they fall. This 's a very necessary precaution as their enemies, the wolves, are always at hand to attack them. " And now, having introduced you to the ha- bitations of my new friends, I shall describe to you their persons, in which I may be assisted, perhaps, by this little drawing. All notions of admiration will, I am aware, be destroyed in a moment. They are a little race ; most of them being shorter than the smallest man of our ac- quaintance in England : the men look robust, but their bodies are slender, and their necks thin and shrivelled; they are upright, though with their feet turned a little inwards, and legs bowed. Strange to say, brought up as they are with hardy habits, and with such extraordinary appetites, they were not so strong as our own seamen, whom we often set to carry weights which the Esquimaux could scarcely lift. They can wrestle, but they can neither run nor jump; nor do they bear cold with the indifference I should expect, in persons all their lives accustomed to it. The men are seldom fat; the women, who lead very sedentary A« PERSONS OF TUiv £»J2UIMAUX. 180 lives, are frequently miicli bloated. The skin of both men and women is very smooth, from being ulway« oily, and, when washed, is not much darker than thnt of a Portuguese. The women an4 children are often rosy; but the men are very sal- low. Their faces are very peculiar : the shape varies, being sometimes oval and sometimes round* with very high cheek bones, in which case the uos^ is buried between them, so that you might put your hand over both cheeks and not touch tlie nose. Some of them had high Roman noses ; hu|t the eye was the same in every one, the inner corner turns down, as in the Chinese; the eyes are small an4 black, expressive when animated* and vei'y beautiful in children, as I have before remarked* What gives them an odd look is, that the skin between die eyes is drawn quite tight like a drum. A crow's foot at the corner of the eye, which with us denotes old age, is seen even in children, and old people are covered with wrinkles most abundantly, from the forehead all down their faces. The mouth, which is kept open with a kind of idiotic stare, is large, but not ugly; their teeth are like round ivory pegs, very flat at the end ; and their chins small and pointed, never becoming what we call a double chin. Their hair is coal-black, coarse, and straight, and the men have very little beard, , .; I. i ? t i i 190 '■ ESQUIMAUX DRESS. ^* Thus much for the general appearance of this people. This was the winter dress of my old friend Kettle : a deer-skin outer coat, with a large hood. This hood was ornamented with white fur, frotn the thighs of the deer. The front of this coat was cut off at the bottom of the waist, and formed into a skirt behind, which nearly reached the ground. A fringe of little strips of skin ornamented the bottom of this skirt. In windy weather, he used to tie a piece of cord or skin round the waist of his coat; at other times it hung loose. Within this dress was another, of exactly the same shape, only the inner one was trimmed with beads instead of strips of leather. This inner dress was thinner than the other, and served as a shirt and an indoor dress, with the hairy part worn next the body. -■'■'' ' .««' ■ ■'■' - '* Besides these two coats, he had a large deer- skin, cut open, with sleeves, by way of cloak; but this he seldom wore, keeping it chiefly for a blan- ket. His deer-skin trowsers had no other fasten- ing round the waist than the string, which was tied very tight, and they were ornamented in the same gay manner as his coat. Two pair are like- wise worn of these ; and my friend's upper ones were made of the skin of deer*s legs, in tasty stripes. They never make these trowsers to reach lower than the knee-^ap; and, though they suffer dread- I ESQUIMAUX DRESS. 191 fully in cold weather, and are frequently frost> bitten in that part, yet they will not add an inch to the length of their trowsers. " His boots reached up to his trowsers, which just covered the tops. He wore two pair, both made of deer-skin, one with the hair next the leg, the other with the hair outside. Between the boots he had a slipper, and over all a strong seaFs-skin shoe, reaching up to the ancle, and fastened by a drawing string. In summer, when the ground is damp, he wears seaFs-skin boots, prepared with- out the hair ; and so neatly sewed that no water can pass through. *' Old Kettle had mittens made of every kind of skin, worn with the hair inside ; and, when dry, nothing could be more comfortable; but, if once these mittens are frozen, or wet, a case of ice would protect the hands just as well. - . ..* " This was his winter dress, complete. He after- wards shewed me that which he wore in summer, which was quite gay and tasty, being entirely made of the skins of ducks, with the feathers in- side. Indeed, it was a very comfortable light dress, and, as he assured me, easily prepared. You will be amused to hear, that when first we were acquainted with these Esquimaux, the few ornaments they had were worn by the men. Ban- deaus of different coloured leather, platted in a ■; ■; il 192 ESQUIMAUX DRESS. pattern, and often with black lacks of hair woven in, so as to contrast with the white leather, were worn round the heads of the men ; a fringe of fox's teeth hung down from this over the forehead; and, in different parts of their hair, where our English fine ladies would place an ornamented comb or a pefarl sprig, an Esquimaux coxcomb would stick a muskHix tooth, a small ivory figure, or the bone of some small anirnal. " The Esquimaux ladies of ifly iftJquaiiltahce were clothed in the same materials as the men, although tile shape of every part of the dress was different. Their two jackets are much the same, . except thftt they have also a shoit skirt in ftoM as well as one behind; and the hoods, which are im- mense^ serve the double purpose of a covering to the head and a cradle for the child, not only while - it is two or three mxmths old, Itut uiitil it has . arrived at the age of two or three years. This hood is called an * amaoota.' > i ^ 't '* - " Round the waist they wear a band, which, is both ornamental and useful, being made of some rare trinkets, such as fox's bones, or the ears of deer, twenty or thirty pair of which sometimes hang round them, as mementos of the skill of some renowned hunter, to whom they are related. The ladies have trowsers similar to the men, ex- cept that they are made of white fVnr before, and t', ESQUIMAUX DRESS. 193 black behind, and are never striped. They are tied round the body by strings, which, being left very long, hang down ornamented with a pen* dent jewel, such as a small ball of wood, a perfo- rated stone, or a musk-ox tooth ! " The women's boots are truly ludicrous, and make them walk like a fat duck: you will scarcely believe them to be as large as represented in my drawing. In fact, they resemble sacks of skin, and the bulky part, being near the knee, adds to the peculiar effect they give the figures of the ladies. The upper end is formed like a pointed flap, and fastened by a button to the band, which secures the trowsers. Two pair of these capacious boots are worn, besides a pair of seal- skin shoes; and they are, I assure you, ornamented at least with some attention to taste. ' '- ' " As for children, they have no clothing till they are two or three years old ; when they are taken out of their mother's hoods, and stuffed into a fawn-skin jacket and trowsers, opening be- hind, and by a string or two closed up again. A cap is always worn by a child, and the fantastical taste of the parents here displays itself; the skin of a fawn's head with the ears perfect, is a favou- rite kind of cap for children ; and, as the holes for the mouth and eyes go across the top of the child's head, of course the little urchin, when you do not see its face, looks like the animal itsel£ 1 1 104 FEMALE OCCUPATIONS. " With regard to the hair, both men and wo- men have a great partiality to the side locks, which hang dpwn sometimes to the length of two feet. The front locks are generally cut straight across the forehead ; but those who keep all their hair long, tie n up in a bunch at the top of the forehead, from whence it hangs loosely down. The women always divide their hair down the iBiddle, into two parcels, which they arrange on each side in two huge pigtails ; each of these is fastened round a bone stiffener, by strips of skin with th€ fur on, which forms 3l pretty spiral pat- tern ; and the bottom of the lock is finish^ by a rose of hair. . " As the men only hunt and kill the animals, the w-omen not only make all the dresses, but prepare the materials, And while sitting at work, their feet are bent under them. The wi& scrapes and ^lies her husband's boots when he comes in, and if hk mittens are stiff, she and the gii'ls chew them till th^ are soft. In pcepering deer skins, aft»r licking the fat arnd oil off, they scrape »nd dry, then chew, jruh, and scour itiera with sand; a second f^ublwng while damp, gives tlifaem itl<£ apipearanoe of ebaraoy leather. A ce- nf>€int of seals' blood, wl^titi^ day, and dogs' hair, eonbli^s them to Ibrm tbdir pots of stone; saad ^bey likewise imake the wiiaybone pots.'^ ' ^ ^ s ! AN ESQUIMAUX MEAL. 195 •!*•* CHAPTER III. « After this minute account of the dress and appearance of the Esquimaux^ you will be able to fancy yourselves with me in my visits to the huts, which were almost daily, as I found some^ thing to amuse me, at least, in the novelty of all I saw. .^:;-.' 7* '.•^' , ./ . " My next visit happened to be just after they had caught some seals; and blood, bones, blubber, and flesh, where strewed about. The lamps were all lighted, and the women were cooking mixtures of blood, meat, and entrails. I entered Kettle's hut, and saw there two women sitting, enjoying themselves over a large pot of boiled seal's blood and oil, which they sipped with ds much delight as your mam ma would sip her tea. After this dieli»- cate meal was finished, the younger lady licked her fingers clean ; then, scraping the spots of oil from her jacket and boots with a knife, she clean- ed that also with the same useful implement, her tongue. The elder lady rather took a pride in the blood which covered her, and wondered at the folly of her companion in taking such useless trouble. * - - » ... " In passing one of the huts, I observed the entrance half blocked Up by snow, and looking w \ I 196 ESQUIMAUX VERACITY. in, I saw a poor idiot boy, who had been left by his; parents while they went to the ships. He was about five years old, and was busy devouring the contents of the lamp the oil, moss and blubber ; which he was eating, being varied by a bite now and then off a very dirty lump of snow. While I was looking at him he was seized with a fit, and before we could break down the snow door, to get in to him, he had forced himself out ot his pek blanket, and was lying on the floor. The fit was a severe one, but he gradually got better, and the neighbours who were present seemed to laugh at the whole affair, and contented themselves with saying that the child had eaten too much. " ' "When I returned from this visit, I was ac^ companied by Ay-o*-kitt, a young man who was become a great favourite with me. He paid me a long visit in the cabin, and I set some food before him, insisting that he should use a knife and fork as we do, wipe his mouth before drink- ing, . and not put a piece larger than an orange in at once ; for the natives in general cram their mouths till they can no longer breathe. I after- wards made him wash his hands and face, when I saw him cast very longing eyes at my nice piece of yellow soap, which I at last gave to him, and he devoured it in a moment. ' : ^ k^' " The wolves continued to torment us most terri* I ■» ■f eft by Ins He was aring the blubber ; bile now While I I fit, and or, to get i his pek he fit was *, and the ) laugh at jlves with ;h. [ was ac*^ who was B paid me ome food se a knife >re drink- orange in mn their I after-' ;, when I lice piece him, and nost terri* i WOLF TRAP. 197 bly : I bad parchased a couple of Esquimaux dogf, but the snow house which I had built for them was no security ; they were carried off in the night by the wolves, after defending themselves bravely, for the very ceiling of the hut was sprinkled with their blood and hair. On the alarm being given, we saw a wolf cantering off with the dead dog in his mouth, clear of the ground, although the dog was lull as large as the wolf. I fired, and the animal was obliged to let go his prey ; but when I went with two other men to fetch the body of the dog, we observed the whole pack of twelve wolves spying us ttaeottgh the gloom^ said sideling abng by us as we returned to the ships. In fact, not a night passed without some depredations by these animals. ^, . ^ / -t ■ * . • / ...»., ** We set a trap similar to those used by the natives, to get rid, if possible, of our troublesome neighbours. The trap was composed of strong slabs of ice, lon^ and narrow, and just large enough to contain the wolf^ without his being able to stir In it : the door moved in slides, and was kept up by a string, which, passing along the top of the trap, wa& let through a hole in the end. At the bottom of the string was a whalebone hoop, on which was fixvd the fliesh bait. The hoop was slightly hooked to a wooden peg, fixed to the opposite end of the trap ;, and s 3 w I J i 198 ENCOUNTKR WITH A WOLF. wheKi the bait was toucheO, the hoop went up, and the door fell down. , " One evening a wolf was taken in the trap» and three balls were fired at him while he was confined in it» After tying his hind legs we drag- god him out, tail foremost, by a rope ; but this he bit tlu'ough in a minute, flew at Mr. Richards, who wa3 the nearest to him, and bit his arm, after seizing his knee and being thrown off. And now, my boys, observe the advantage of presence of mind. *^ Mr. Richards, instead of being overcome by terror, grasped the animaPs throat and flung )iim back, at the same time retreating a step or two himself. " The wolf gladly took the opportunity of es- caping, having done no more harm than tearing Mr. Richards*s clothes and slightly hurting his arm. If Mr.. Richards had been less brave, or if he had not chanced to be a strong and powerful man, he would have been killed. The enemy, however, was found frozen to death tlie next morning ; a raven, who had picked out one of its eyes, hovering over its carcase, was the first io attract our attention to it. << We soon discovered that the Esquimaux are very improvident ; for, notwithstanding they had lately caught a great many seals, they were now uimaux are GAMBOLS. 199 in a state of starvation. Three do;,!;8 were killed and eaten, and they had nothing leit to eat but bits of skin ; of course we gladly sent them a supply of brend-dust and oil, for which they were very grateful at the time. " As the little band of savages were all related to each other, it puzzled them to think how it could be that we were not so. I, therefore, to save trouble, called myself the father of the * Kabloo- na,' which is their name for white people. But Mr. Kettle, who was the most inquisitive of the party, found out that many of ray children were older than myself, and was not quite satisfied with my story, " Oh the 14th of February, it was too cold for any of us to leave the ships ; but we received a friendly visit from our neighbours. We set them to play a game at leap-frog* which was quite new to them ; and the young men made most awkward attempts at jumping, often pitching upon their heads. They bore the laugh and the pain very good-humouredly, and generally re- turned to the game without being disheartend. A winch, by which one man could draw towards him ten other men who held by a rope, afforded great amusement. ** Kettle was too old to join in these diversions; but he and the other old men laughed till the I .- 200 ESQUIMAUX LUXURY. tears ran down their cheeks. As they were only men who had visited us to-day, we sent the ladies some presents of candle-ends by their husbands, and Kettle took home a choice cut of dog's flesh for my mother, which he carried in the inside of his inner boot, next to the dirty calf of his leg. For all these presents we got much thanked when we went to the huts. We amused ourselves by painting two of their faces with red and white co- lours, and they went home delighted, saying, their wires would not know them, but would take them for * Kabloona' ladies. (There is a compliment for you, Louisa.) To make them stand still, to be so adorned, we were obliged to treat them in turns to a bite of a candle end, till our candles and colours were both exhausted. »*»' "» r-"- " We returned this visit in a day or two, and were pleased to find them in the midst of plenty. The seal hunters had caught an abundance : heaps of savoury fare, blood, blubber, and entrails, were lying in every hut; and even the dogs were enjoj^ ing themselves, as they went from one child to another, licking the blood and grease from their chins and cheeks. The women sat cooking, and sucking their fingers; the men were lounging about ; and, while the messes were preparing, the children tore such parts of the entrails as were not too tough for their young teeth, and when they EMBARRASSING HOSPITALITY. 201 met with any very hard part, they gave it to their mothers, who soon chewed it into a proper state for them." Louisa. This is a very disgusting account, uncle : I am not at all of Charles's opinion, that your refusing the offer of a child is a matter of regret. I should not much fancy any little urchin making such meals here. " I own, my dear Louisa, the sight was disgust- ing enough ; but as I am giving you a full and true account of the habits of a set of people with whom I associated for several months, you must excuse me if I offend your delicacy, in order to gratify your desire ef information. " These little beings know not the comfort of cleanliness ; they have not a notion of it : the only way their hands, for instance, are cleaned, is by putting their closed fist into the mouth of their mother. <* I was invited to eat a fine piece of half-boiled sealVflesh, from which the old lady first licked the gravy and dirt, and bit it all round to try which was the tenderest part. I refused, you may be sure, Louisa, and pressed the old dame to eat it her- self, which she very soon did, to our great amuse- ment, pretending to make wry faces all the while. '' I found that the women do not eat with the men, but have the privilege of licking the gravy "? 208 AN VBQVIMAVX MEAL. ^ from the meat before they present it to their lordf^ who often stuff till they are stupified. They have no knives, nor forks, nor plates, you know, so I will tell yop how they manage : they sit round, and a lump is given to the nearest person ; he sucks it all rouiid, crams his mouth as full as he can, and cuts it off close to his lips» to their great danger as well as of his nose. The meat then passes to- the next person, who does the same, till the lump is done. The meal continues a long time, each per- son swallowing several pounds^ The pots are often filled again, during which time the. party suck their fingers, or enjoy a little raw blubber. At the end of the dinner, the rich soup in the pot is: handed round, each taking a sip in his turn till it i» empty, when the good woman of the house licks it clean> and prepares to make her own mess. The meal being finished, every one scrapes the grease from his face to his mouth, and then licks clean his fingers* << In one of the huts, a little fellow, four years old, amused me niuch. I have (iescribed the dress, which disfigures the children; and this was the ugliest boy of his tribe. His dirty face, shaded by locks of tangled black hair, almost pre^ vented him from seeing ; but be first of all chal- lei^ed me to dance, aad began singing and beat- ing his drun and capering away. He then sat ESQUIMAUX DOLLS. tOS solemnly still while I danced. When I was quite tired he took my book and pencil, and walked round to every one, gravely asking them their names, and pretending to write them down, as he had seen me do. His drum was made of whale- bone, with a thin skin drawn over it on one side, and sounded like a bad tambourine. ^< The next Sunday the natives all came to see us go to church on board the Fury ; and, having only seen us in our grey jackets, their admiration was truly great; indeed, they hardly knew us again in our full-dress. The ladies all danced and shouted as the marines, in their red coats, passed. *^ 1 WB» favoured with a risit from Togorlat 4nd her mother, Il-yoo-mia, who brought me these little Esquimaux dolls, wliich T give to you, Louisa, and otn assure you they «re very well dressed, sjid will give you a better id«n ef the person and clol^ing 'Of an Esquimaux female than my long description. Togorlat tattoed another pattern ^on my arm, wbile lier old mother undertook to do Khe sftme upon Mc Bird. His repeated < Ohs 1 ' d^w my al;tention, mid I found that the old wom^i was talking and stitching away as if upon an old shoe ; and that, minreover, she was so blind, that all the lines she made were €r4>ok8d. ^ Oko^took, and his wife Iligliak, next^ame to u f ! 204 AN ESQUIMAUX VISITOR. see me, with their usfly stupid-looking little boj^ , who surprised me, however, by imitating the tones of a variety of animals and birds. Young ducks quack- ing again, in reply to the distant quack of their mother — every sound, from the hum of a fly to the growl of a bear, was mimicked by him. '^ It was on the same day that an iron bolt and tin funnel were missing from the Hecla, and the Esquimaux all charged my friend, old Kettle, with being the thief. I was so pleased with Ayo- kitt, who sat in my room drawing men and boats, that I invited him to stay and sleep on board, to which he willingly consented. <' After washing his face and hands, we made him take a chair and join our evening circle round the fire. He even drank some coffee with us, and ate some gingerbread ; but he did it as if it were medicine he felt obliged to take. I taught him to snuff the candles and stir the fire, and then we looked at pictures together. He was much sur- prised when I shewed him drawings of horses, he having seen no such animals, and he called them * yook-too,' or reindeer. All insects he called * yak-karlikki-tea,* or butterflies. When we came to crabs and a party of young frogs, he called them < kabloona,' or white men. " He was very angry in talking of the theft that had been committed, and said Kettle was the METAMORPHOSIS. 205 thief; and he called over the names of his own family on his fingers, saying to each as he named them, * Not a thief.* " The poor fellow was so pleased with my at- tempts to amuse him, that he seemed to think me a very great * annatko,' or conjuror. At nine o'clock he was completely tired out. and w ^ per- suaded him to lie down before the fire, where he soon began to snore, and muttered many words in his dreams. The next morning, after I had shaved myself, I persuaded him to let me do the same to him ; which, added to a good washing, so altered him, that when he examined his complexion in a glass, he declared that he was not an Ayokitt, but a Kabloona. After a good breakfast he took his leave, carrying with him as a present from me a boarding pike, on which was marked with small nails the names of the ships and date of the year. " My first friend. Kettle,- was not long before he made his peace with me ; for he took good care to watch me as I next visited the huts, ai^d, running and shouting after me till I stopped, managed, with the assistance of a tin pot and piece of iron, to make me some kind of an explanation. " It was not difficult to pei'suade me that he was not the thief, and therefore we soon shook hands, each making a long speech, which neither of us understood. ■♦^^i ^" '- ''-^ -'v^f^ '-^(m- in-^'r '^'.-^ i- '-■. I \\ 206 u INGRATITUDE. <' A boarding-pike was next missed; but, when our men went to the huts to inquire for it, they met with a most rough reception from the ladies, who declared that the ' kabloona' were thieves, and had stolen all their things. Ajt that very moment they sat surrounded by heaps of presents which they had had from us, and for which they had eagerly offered their things in exchange. But the fact was, they cared not for us as long as they had oil for their lainps and food to eat ; and their gratitude only returned when a day of fan(iine came. it \\ Charles. Ah, uncle, you are beginning to dis- cover the faulty side of your friends* characters. << It is true) indeed, Charles ; and I suppose it reminds you of your old copy, * Familiarity breeds contempt;* but I deserved a disappoint- ment, if 1 expected that uncultivated savages should be free from faults, when those who have so many more advantages are so far from being faultless. "First impressions are not always to be de- pended^ upon; and I now saw reason to change mine respecting the neat and comfortable appear- ance of the snow huts ; for the fires, that had been kept up during the late abundance, caused an in- cessant dripping and thawing, and rendered them so rotten, that one woman fell through the roof . r LOCAL INFORMATION. 207 as she was cleariilg the snow. Almost all were suffering from coughs and colds, and many had lost their voices. " One happy event occurred, in the complete extirpation of the gang of wolves ; the last of which, to the great joy of the natives, was caught in our trap at the time. " Our time was now a good deal employed in getting charts of the country from Iligliak and Eewarat. ; and the sum of the information Was, that a sea existed to the north, which was open in the summer; and that in this sea were many islands, on v Esquimaux reside, some con- stantly, and oiiiers as they travel about along the coast." ToMk Probably, uncle, that may be the same coast that poor Captain Franklin sailed along, and which he expected would lead into Repulse Bay. " It is most likely so, Tom. We shall see what other light We can gain upon the subject; for the present, we were blocked up ; but, as the weather began to look more smiling, we determined to make a little journey to explore the coast about our present station. " We set out : but were punished here, too, for our hasty judgments, for the bitter cold returned; and, after wandering about for many hours, we T 2 208 FAMINE AND GLUTTONY. became bewildered in the snow; and, after severe suffering, which nearly occasioned the loss of life to one of our companions, we returned to the ships covered w i frost bites. " As the natives had now been some time with- out catching any seals or walruses, great distress again prevailed amongst them, and a report reached us that they were moving their station* I ran to the huts ; and, true, I found them broken and deserted, except by a few old women and one old man, who was sitting alone without food or furniture : all was carried away. •»:■ 'K^h " On my return to the ships, I found five old women, who had come down for food, dancing away on deck, as if they were the happiest crea- tures in the world, kicking their legs as high as their heads, making faces, and screaming with all their might. They had eaten a pailful of bread- dust, and forgot, in their own merriment, the starving condition of those in the huts, for whom they likewise had had food given them. • " Two large walruses were soon caught, and many families returned to the huts to gormandize. One man had eaten till he was quite intoxicated, and was dozing with his mouth open. His tender wife, Arnalooa, sat by the cooking pot, and every now and then awakened her husband, to cram his mouth full of half-boiled flesh, which she ESQUIMAUX DECAMPMENT. 209 Stuffed in with her finger, and then cut it ofl' the himp close to his lips. The blood and fat stream- ing about him, make him look truly ^.isgusting. " They now pretended to despise the bread and oil with which we had kindly supplied them, when, by their excessive gluttony, they had brought on a famine ; and this discovery of their ingratitude, added tc their many thefts, prevented us from re- gretting cheir change of abode, particularly as their visits would have been very troublesome as spring approached, when we were obliged to be more actively employed. " Their final departure now took place ; their sledges were packed up a yard high with furni- ture and skins, tin pots, bottles, and jars, hanging dangling all around the pile, while knives, forks, and other little things filled up the spaces. The very little children, muffled in skins, were packed up like bundles at the very top. The transparent windows of ice were carried with them. Even the dogs seemed to know they were about to begin a long journey, for they howled piteously. The signal was given, the sledges shot down the hill, one man taking care of each sledge, and the others walking with the women. We accompanied the party for a couple of miles, all in great glee ; but one party was ridiculously sad. They all declared they should never see us T 3 n i 310 RETURN OF SPRING. H again, unless indeed there should be a famine^ and then we might be sure to see them. " They indeed kept their word ; and I will de- scribe what kind of a day it was that they spent on board the '.ps when they did come one after the other. '> riey would stuff as if they had not eaten for a month ; then they would lie down and sleep for two or three hours, then stuff again, and then sleep, and sr on for several times ; and when one ship was tired of supplying them, they would go begging to the other. . *' To our great delight, a general thaw now took place ; the hills looked speckled, and the birds returned. Such was our joy at again seeing these harbingers of spring, that we counted them as they came. I wished much to bring home a snow bunting, the plumage of which is beautiful ; its wings are jetty black, and on its breast is a cream-coloured mark, in the shape of a horse- shoe, which contrasts most beautifully with the snowy whiteness of the body. The head and neck are delicately tinged with pink, from the buds of the saxifrage which they eat ; and these lovely creatures are as tame as a robin, and very nice to eat, although we could scarcely find in our hearts to kill them. ;■-: i^uj ^.>aim;q :cr;:;j> a. <' In consequence of this eAcour^ement ft6tn the more open state of the weather, we again set DEATH OF A SEAMAN. 211 forth for a land-exploring journey, the particulars of which will not interest you, though it served to give us some idea of the month of May in the Arctic regions. ht , " The object of this little tour was to discover to what point the ships might sail without the delay of coasting, in order to explore inlets ; and so far it answered the purpose. Nothing could be more flat and uninteresting than the country : no vegetation gladdened our eyes, which were afflicted with snow-blindness : while the partial thaw, though it did not supply us with water, made us perpetually slipping as we walked, and kept us in a damp and dripping state when imder shelter of our tents. We saw no birds, but plenty of deer, though they were thin. " We found, on our return to the ships, that our companions were grieving for the loss of James Fringle, a seaman who had died during our ab- sence. His grave had been dug near the observa- tory, and we buried him next day, and fired a volley over his body. " I was greeted by a straggling Esquimaux, who had not yet followed his party, with 'very well, I taank you,' accompanied by a dandy bow, which he had been taught to make at the ships ; and when we told him we had seen deer, he '.-it;' I ' Ml 212 PREPARATIONS FOR SAILING. determined to take his wife and another family who still haunted the ships, in search of them. They were wretchedly poor. Captain Parry gave them a bone sledge^ on which they placed their loads, one dog and a bandly-legged little pappy being all they had to drag it. They thought the journey they were about to begin might take them forty days ; and yet, without a morsel of food be- sides a little bread and a few candle-ends, they set off in as high spirits as if in a land of plenty. When they took leave of us, Captain Parry pre- sented each man with a boarding-pike, and Captain Lyon gave them eachahatchet; while apoor woman who was divorced from her husband, and had no one to rejoice for, stood with the tears in her eyes, not even begging for any thing for herself. Captain Lyon gave her a knife, and made her completely happyby telling her, that as soon as she brought her husband with her, he too should have an axe. itM " We soon had plenty of new visitors in the shape of birds : the grouse at first were white ; but the raven keeps its black plumage through- out the year. The king-duck, which is some- thing like an eider-drake, is a most brilliant crea- ture ; and wie saw, too, a large jflock of longtailed ducks, " We now set to work, cutting a canal into the open water ; but the process being the same as A SWAN S NEST. 213 t!iat I described to you on a former occasion, I need not dwell upon it now. '* I had my curiosity gratified in the sight of a swan's nest with three eggs in it, and an enormous pile it is. It is a curious construction, built of little pieces of peat, which is a kind of turf, no larger than a walnut, neatly placed one upon another. The eggs are laid in a hole at the top, which is a foot and a half in diameter, so that the female bird is seen in full length while sitting. The eggs were of a dull white colour, and made three good meals for one of our invalids. '' It was the ninth of June when we saw the first flower ; and is it not singular, that it was the same day of the same month on which we had seen the same flower (saxifrage) at Melville Island, on our former voyage ?*' Tom. But, uncle, you were much farther north at Melville Island ? " Yes, it 's true, we were as many as nine de- grees farther north ; but I fancy, in the Arctic regions, that makes but little difference ; as we had various proofs, both in vegetation and in the showers of rain. -» " After fifteen days' hard but cheerful labour, our canal was completed ; and, fancying that the next day we should leave Winter Island, several of us went to the little hill called Cape Fisher, to 214 DEPARTURE FROM WINTER ISLAND. II take leave of the place on which we had passed so many months, and to which we all had a feeling of attachment, notwithstanding its barren and comfortless appearance. *' On this spot we painted the ships' name&> ; and, a6;er shooting and roasting a few buntings for sup. per, we each took a piece of yackee, or Esquimaux stone, and thus ended our rural and cold fete." Charles. Before you leave the island, pray tell me uncle, had you not some gardens this time, as before ? " Indeed, Charles, we had a hot-bed, covered with glass, for each ship ; and this garden was a favourite lounge, and produced us, besides mus- tard and cress, peas, two inches high, and radishes as thick as a thread ! Captain Parry's stoves, too, were very productive in mustard and cress." i.:, i'u ^''^iJiTfi- \ri-- CHAPTER IV. ' " Thus passed our first winter; and you will remark, that, though our knowledge of the natives was much increased, we had not yet made much progress in discovery. For two hundred and sixty-seven days, which is nearly three quarters of the year, we had been frozen in ; but at length we sailed forth, and were well pleased to be once more proceeding in a northerly direction. ^ ENCOUNTER WITH WAI.RUSE8. 215 '* As we advanced, the tides became tempestu- ous, and tlireatened the Hecla, whose only way of escaping was to shelter herself behind a fender of ice. The floes of ice were at length, however, driven against her with such force, that a weaker vessel must have been knocked to pieces. We got through it, however, and continued coasting at a slow rate, the Fury being before us, until we were stopped by the ice. Landing for a short time, therefore, we were gratified by the sight of u fine cataract and some magnificent scenery, such as we had never before witnessed in these regions. " While we were still stationary, we had a regular battle with some walruses, a herd of which lay facing us with open mouths on the ice. " A male and female, and their cub, were apart from the rest. We wounded the old ones, who, after a desperate resistance, were killed, and taken alongside our boat. The cub had kept close to them all along, getting first on the back of one and then of the other, and its presence made them more fierce in their defence. <* At lengthy from the crow's nest, we discovered Esquimaux tents, in the very spot laid down for our guidance by Iligllak. We went in our boats to visit them, and now knew enough of their lan- guage to answer their questions of * Where do you come from ?* * What do you want ?' w 216 FRESH BAND OF ESQUIMAUX. » " They were all related to our friends at Win- ter Island ; and, therefore, after the first shyness was worn off, they were delighted to hear news of them, and each of us had soon an attentive au- dience in each tent, to whom we told all we knew. Some of the old men carried a spear made of a single piece of ivory of an unicorn's horn. " This band of Esquimaux live in tents covered with walrus' skins, and not in snow-houses, like their relations. They appeared very poor and miserable, their dirty deer-skins scarcely affording them sufficient covering to keep them warm at night. They were well behaved ; and, when we entered their tents, thanked us, and begged us to sit down on their deer-skins. " Of their hospitality we had most convincing proofs, for when we left them to return to the ships, we launched our boat in a thick fog ; and, after being beaten about by the ice for some hours, we were obliged to save it as well as ourselves by dragging it back to the beach. Here the natives met us in spite of the inclement weather, and got our boat up the deep shingle bank. As we could not stay by her, we were obliged to trust to the honesty of the Esquimaux. After making them a long speech, which I dare say they did not under- stand, about some tin pots, which we would give ESQUIMAUX HOSPITALITY. 217 them if they let the boat alone, an old *x)an seemed to make them an oration; and then they all fol- lowed us, without touching the boat, although it contained a tempting store of wood and iron. " They then led us to their tents, took off our wet garments, and clothed us in their own furs, which they stripped off their backs. " The women came and volunteered a dance tor our amusement, to which they added various grimaces and cries, which they called singing. We then tried to sing them some noisy choruses, but our teeth chattered with cold. The women, perceiving how cold we were, tucked us up under our deer-skins, over which they spread boots, mittens, and raw duck-skins, while the men stop- ped up all the holes in the tent with bunches of feathers. -^' - ' -^*' . « ^ » . r • , , " With these kind and hospitable attentions we soon got warm, and enjoyed a comfortable night's rest ; for which we, next day, repaid our friends, by making them presents of every thing we had in our possession. ^ . • l i,'; v. " We took leave of these Esquimaux; and, not- withstanding the fog, reached the ships in safety ; but found them still beset with ice. "On my next visit to Igloolik, I examined their winter huts, which are curiously constructed of bones of the whale, walrus, and sea-unicorn ; the y 1 Ml 218 f * DOa SLEDGES. H-w interstices are filled with moss and earth, and the tops are domed. Within, they were most filthy ; and all around the outside lay skeletons of ani- mals, mingled with human heads. Here I shot a snowy owl, a rare and beautiful bird, which is considered as a species between an eagle and an owl ; and, like owls in general, it sees as well by night as by day. " To see a little of the country, as well as to improve my acquaintance with these good-hu- moured Esquimaux, I determined lipon going a few days* journey with Toulemak, the old man whom Captain Parry had commissioned to pro- cure a supply of fish for the ships. ** - ■ ~ • ^* We set off, with four men accompan3dng us in one sledge, and three boys in another, aad a team of eleven dogs. We left the island of | Igloolik, and travelling over the ice, passed a number of red granite islands, bold and barren to view; but we soon found the holes in the ice difficult to pass. .e r«^^* *.<.• << Dunn, with the old man, and myself, walked to an island, to look about us, and found there was water instead of ice a little way farther, and that we could not prodeed except with a boat. As we <;ould not, therefore, reach the fishing- place, we spent a night on one of these rocky islands ; and I was obliged to distribute our four INDIAN MEAL. 219 days* supply of food among the whole party that night ; for the Esquimaux, ever improvident, had brought none with them. The next morning we saw a group of thirty islands, which I named the Coxe Group. Dunn caught us a deer, by the usual stratagem among the natives. He hid him- self behind a stone, and imitated the singular cry of a deer, which soon attracted one of these sim- ple animals, and he came near enough to allow himself to be shot. We ail sat squat upon a skin, and enjoyed an excellent meal, in the Esquimaux fashion ; and, I can assure you, so well were the bones picked, that not even the dogs would gnaw at them a second time. You must remember, Louisa, that this was tho first Indian meal I had ever been present at, and my first feeling was of disgust at the raw repast. I determined to be a spectator only, and to confine myself to eating a little preserved meat, which I had saved from the last night's supper ; but I was tempted to try a part of the spine, and found it, indeed, excellent; and, if I were often situated in a similar manner, I know not if I should not even relish, as a dainty, raw venison." Charles. And how did you like their mode of travelling, uncle— drawn by dogs? " You would have been delighted to have been with us, Charles ; their sagacity was beyond every- u 2 (( 220 DOG SLEDGES. thing. An old dog was placed at the head of the team, as guide ; and no well-trained soldier could obey better the word of command. As for beat- ing, it was out of the question; for, however tired, the cry of a seal or bear was enough to set them off full gallop across the ice. It was a fine sight to see us racing away all in full cry, as if dashing along in spite of wind and water. Sometimes one of our dogs would get entangled and tossed over, when our driver would jump from his seat in front, nimbly arrange all, and set off again. As for harness, or reins, the long-lashed whip and the hollow tones of our driver answered the purpose well enough; and the dogs would have gone orderly enough through any difficult pass, if their constant biting and fighting had not somewhat interrupted them. The noises the men made, which are scarcely more musical than the growls of the dogs, formed a most stunning concert. . " Our reception from Ooyarra, the fisherman, was truly hospitable, while his wives and parents assisted in taking off my wet cloth.es, and drying and mending my boots. I wrapped myself up in my blanket bag, and hoped for a little sleep; but no, one native after another came in, and all were too curious to know how I could have got into my bag, to allow me much repose. They all thought I had sewed myself up in it. ^^ , .. .. , .. ESQUIMAUX BALL. 221 " I learnt, the following day, a new way of making fires of blubber and bones. The woman who is about to cook the dinner, chews a piece of blubber, and then spits the oil from her mouth upon the fire to keep it burning. '*A number of strange customs excited my curiosity, and you will scarcely believe the slory I am going to tell you. I was dozing in my tent about the Aiiddle of the day, when a native came and led me by the hand, desiring Dunn to follow us, to a ball. We entered a tertt, where a number of women, ranged according to their ages, sat round the room in solemn silence. It was an Esquimaux ball ; the dancers were two men^ who advanced to the middle of the tent, near the pole of it. The principal dancer moved slowly to the favourite tune of Am-naa-ya-a-ya, and, when a little tired, walked up gravely to the second man, who was the assistant, and holding his head be- tween his hands, rubbed noses with him, amid the shouts of all the lookers-on. He did the same thing over again, several times, till at last he led the assistant to the middle of the tent, and rushed out into the air to cool himself. The as- sistant then chose a partner ; and so on till several couples had danced. But, alas ! they were not contented unless I, too, joined in the diversion. I was led up by a filthy fellow, who seemed to con- u 3 222 ESQUIMAUX POLITENESS. sider it an excellent joke ; and, with all the ladles laughing at me, I was obliged to stand up and have my nose rubbed, like the rest. When my turn came to choose a partiier, you may depend upon it, Louisa, I picked ou* the prettiest girl in the room to dance with, which highly flattered the old dame her mother. I went on dancing for some time, till at last I too became weary; and, after a present of needles to the ladies, I made my escape. Dunn had more wisdom than myself; for, when he saw the liberty that was taken with my nose, he made his escape, and no entreaty could get him bnck into the room. " These poor wretches have notions of receiving visitors, as appeared from their kindness to me ; for, whatever tent I visited, the master always rose and gave me the best seat. They exchange visits regularly among each other, and the men carry a long knife on purpose to cut their food with ; and from these dangerous companions their fingers often suffer, in their over anxiety to get at the dainties quickly. A fashionable employ- ment, indeed, is to flourish and lick this knife from one end to the other, whenever there is a little pause in the course of the meal. " It was with sorrow I thought of quitting these hospitable people, who, in their quiet state, were different from the other band of Esquimaux, FURY AND HECLA STRAIT. 223 whose shouting and eagerness for barter made them sometimes very teasing. Before I left them, we had a good game at leap-frog, which I taught them, and in which they took great delight, the women even", with great children at their backs, running and jumping with all their might. Some marks of their kind attention were left upon my arm, as you may perceive in this kakecn of a little man, which Ooyarra's wife performed. " Onr ships again set sail, and it was not long before we entered a strait, in the north-west direc- tion, and about four miles wide, which we named the Strait of the Fury and the Hecla. Here the ice was very little thawed, although we had seen the first of September. The coast on each side was bare and barren; scarcely a fiower had put forth its leaves, and most desolate was the pros- pect. A few deer were here and there gathering the scanty crop of moss, that grew between the rocks. The remains of one Esquimaux circle, was all thie proof we could observe of this rugged shore having been inhabited ; and that had evidently been long a ruin, for it was half buried in moss. ^^A number of little islands lay scattered about ; and parties from our ship were industrious in ex- ploring them, as well as in ascertaining the state of the ice. The result of all was, that there was no part of the strait where the ice was not per- \v ■ its '" '1 224 RETURN OV WINTER. fectly unbroken, except the part we now were in, in which, alas 1 we were becoming daily more and more beset, u. j :. ^ ..... " Determined to persevere to the very utmost, a party was despatched to reacbn if poi^sible, i\m termination of the strait. They walked along tlie const as much as sixty miles^ and ]t eturned with this intelligence, that tlkey could perceive no ter- mination, but that one unbroken sea of ice lay be- fore them, m far as they could discern. We all now felt surf tliat ^liis wxs the long-sought open- . ing into the Poliv Sea ; and to have discovered this was very satisfactory, but when could we ven- ture to hope that it would be navigable ? Certainly not this year; for we were. already battered about and blocked up by shoals of ice ; and we cotild only hope to make our way a few days longer. " For the present year, therefore, adieu to all hope of immortalizing our names by this grand discovery: at all events, we were desirous of getting to the north a little, and feeling our way in that direction. But, no ; we were dis- appointed on all sides, and all our anxiety was now to leave a scene of such utter desolation, before the second winter set in. v, - . *' Happily we just accomplished this; for had we been delayed many hours, we could not have done it. After a variety of adventures, so si- BONE HUTS. 225 milar to those we before experienced in navi- gating the icy sea, that I need not relate them to you, we anchored near to Igloolik, in which station we determined to pass the winter, whose early approach iilied us with dismal feehngs. ' ^^ Our friends at Igloolik had already taken possession of their bone or winter huts, where I faid :hem a visit; though, I own, it was with re- pugnance that I crossed the sloppy puddle at the door, to crawl in upon my hands and knees, and encounter the horrible smells within." Charles. Ah ! my dear uncle, you would regret now the clean snow huts of your acquaint- ance at Winter Island ? " If you will allow me, Charles, to finish my description of these bone huts, I will then intro- duce you into some fresh -water ice ones, which you will acknowledge to be far more beautiful than either. " These bone houses have no roof, except a weather-proof transparent skin, which covers the top, and admits sufficient light, at the same time that it excludes the air. I entered, as you may re- member, upon all-fours; and judge of my sur- prise on finding the feet of the inhabitants above my head ! It contained several families, and each family occupied a high bench. The slope up to each bench was rendered so slippery by 1 1 226 U ICE HUTS. lumps of melted walrus flesh, and other liquids, that an old man, like myself, had some difficulty in gratifying his curiosity by climbing up. A seal's skin curtain was carefully pinned up at the back of each family, to conceal the sooty wall ; foVf singular as it may appear, these people, otherwise surrounded by dirt, cannot endure soot. I had observed before, when I visited them, that the slightest mark of soot on their fingers, or on mine, was carefully wiped off with a feather, which they first wetted in their mouths. " There are not bone huts enough to contain all the Esquimaux in Igloolik, and a number of ice huts were interspersed throughout the village. These were built as we should build our stone houses: slabs of ice were plastered together with snow for mortar. They were octagonal, or eightHsided ; sometimes finished with a dome, like the snow houses, and sometimes covered with skins, in the fashion of the bone huts. The transparency is so great, that, standing out- side, you may with little trouble distinguish its inhabitants from each other : a number of young puppies lay comfortably in boxes made of the same beautiful material, and looked as if placed for a show in glass cases. " ? . * :':>" * I f [^ •/ -' • • ' ' "In my various visits to the huts, I could ge- nerally be accommodated with a ride in an Esqui- ii ESj^UIMAUX SORCERER. ^^"^ 227 maux sledge; but as I found a present was always expected, it became rather an expensive carriage. The boldness of the natives in venturing upon the ice to the ships was beyond every ^hing. Long before the ice would bear them with any de- gree of safety, men, women, and children, would come sliding along, to our great consternation. . *' From Ooyarra we learned some curious facts about the anatkos, or conjurors ; and it came out that Toulemak, my fellow-traveller, was a re- gular anatko. I was not long in persuading him to exhibit a little specimen of his art; and I will try to recollect the particulars of the scene, wL.ch was truly ludicrous. His old wife alone was in the room, which was darkened. A chaunt was begun by the sorcerer; his wife began to sing Amna^aya. Toulemak then turned himself round and round, and, calling for Toonga, his patron spirit, to come, snorted and puffed like a walrus. Then the loud voice ceased, and, in a smothered tone, he contrived it so as to seem to be going farther and f^irther off, till it stopped alto- gether. The old dame then told me gravely that he was gone down into the sea, and would send Toonga up to us. At length, a distant blowing and a different tone of voice, were heard. * This is Toonga,' said the old woman. " I asked several questions from this would-be I ' I 228 ESQUIMAUX IDEAS OF FUTURITY. spirit, and was answered by two thumps on the deck, which the old lady said was favourable. A hollow voice was then heard, mingled with groans, hissings, and gabbiings, like a turkey. The old lady sang still louder : and, as I concluded it was all to terrify me, I cried out, * Oh! I am so frightened! * This set them a-going still more fu- riously, till the poor spirit was tired and begged to retire. Toulemak then with a yell announced his return, with two heaps of deer-skin stripes fastened to his dress behind, which he declf^red Toonga had sewed on when he was below, ' ' ' ,," These exhibitions are not I fancy very fre- quent, and are generally performed in order to cure some sick person. There are no less than ten familiar spirits with whom Toulemak pro- fesses to hold communication. #>t/ yi> « But though these poor people have no reli- gious worship, they are not idolaters, and their notions of a future state are very straight forward. There are two places to which they believe the souls of the good go — heaven and the centre of the earth ; the first is for those who have been killed by bears, walruses, or any other animal; the second is divided into three, the lowest pf which is a place of perfect happiness. ^* . ' " Winter orders being again given, every pre- paration was made as before : our observatory was ESQUIMAUX AFFECTION FOR THEu^ DOGS. 929 buUt, and messengers were appointed to keep up regular communications six times a day be- tween the ships. We depended upon our new acquaintances at Igloolik, for amusement during the long period of darkness which we had to look forward to ; for, you must remember, we iiad moved our station several degrees farther north than what it was the winter before. ** It was not long before a few of our old friends, of Winter Isle, came to visit their rela- tions at Igloolik : and well pleased were we to see each other again. Tagorlat was among the number of these visitors, and was truly happy at once again coming to our ships. Her poor idiot child had died upon the road, and the whole party had undergone great hardships. << And now, Charles, you should have seen us sporting our handsome teams of dogs. I myself drove eleven fine creatures. I purchased them from the Esquimaux ; to whose credit it must be related, that they would not sell me these valuable animals, until they had bargained that none should be killed. It had happened, to the disgrace of the ' Kabloona,' that once or twice the dog had been killed as soon as bought ; and in one instance the heartless sailor not only killed the dog, but asked the owner to assist him in skin- ning it. For this purpose,he put the knife into his .':V.\ P I 2S0 ESQUIMAUX MARRTAGE. hand ; but the Esquimaux threw it from him indig- nantly, and walked away without speaking a word." ** I trust the sailor felt ashamed of his inhu- manity," cried Charles, indignantly. ** It was a striking lesson to us all, and I believe we had not before given credit to the Esquimaux for such noble or strong feelings.'* " We were present at a marriage between young Toolooak from Winter Island, and a damsel of the Igloolik tribe. The ceremony is simply this : tlie bridegroom enters the hut of the bride, and seats himself down beside her ; and is from that moment lord and master of herself and her hut. The bride was fifteen, the bridegroom two years older. Both looked very sheepish and shy, when they came next day to visit Captain Parry. He made them some presents, as a matter of course. ** Toulemak, the conjuror, was a knowing man. One day, he went into Captain Lyon's cabin : * I have had a dream,' said he ; * which was, that a spirit, in the shape of a Lyon, came and brought me an axe.* " * I too have had a dream,* answered the Cap- tain : ^ I dreamed that an old fellow was turned out of my cabin for being a beggar.' This last dream was instantly realized; and the conjuror took the joke very good-humouredly, though he had to walk upon the cold deck, instep of sitting by a good fire. x SINGULAR CURE. 231 « We bade adieu to the sun on the second of December ; and, much us you wish to become a bold adventurer, Charles, I cannot help hoping that you may never know the melancholy feeling of losing sight of that noble luminary altogether. Tom. I think you have no reason to com- plain, uncle ; fo: you had no illness, either among your people or the Esquimaux. I have not heard you even mention your doctor's name. " Do not, Tom, be in too great a hurry ; I was just going to tell you of a cure, which I performed myself, upon a native, who came to me with a fit of lumbago. He begged I would give him some soap, for his wife to wash his back with. This was done in my presence, by his good lady, with an injunction from me to repeat the washing every day till the soap was done. I then held my musical snuff-box to his back for a short time, and the cure was completed. After many thanks, and the offer of his wife's boots, he returned home quite well.- *♦ You may laugh at this story ; but, simple as it was, the natives are not utterly devoid of dis- crimination. Toulemak one day gave me a very striking lesson. He came into my cabin, he slept with me, and he made a point of eating of every thing of which I ate, and of doing whatever I did. During the visit he said to me, ' When you give me any thing, I eat, and I say Very good : when X 2 232 ESQUIMAUX ENTERTAINMENT. the Kabloona come to see us, they turn up their noses ; and when we ask them to eat, they say Very bad.* Now pray, my little niece, to whom would you give the prize of good manners ?" Louisa. Your question puzzles me, uncle; for, though you might have avoided turning up your nose, or saying any thing to offend, yet I cannot think you could very well hfive sat down and partaken of their horrible messes. '■ " Habit, however, I believe, Louisa, makes our food nearly as repugnant to them, although it certainly cannot be quite so disgusting. " However, I determined, if possible, to profit by the lesson ; and I soon after paid Toulemak a visit, with the intention of staying all night, to see something more of his inrantations. " My politeness was now put to the proof; I found the family at a sociable meal, over a full and smoking pot of seal's flesh, and I stft down with them, and ate like one of them. I was next called upon to partake of a frozen slice of raw walrui I even forced myself to eat of this, and received in turn the thanks and praises of the family, parti- cularly as they all declared that they knew the Kabloona were not fond of raw meat. Toulemak, my host, was so pleased, that he promised me a visit from Toonga, as a reward. I have before described to you the ceremony of calling up this T. rn up their ley say Very vhom would me, uncle; 1 turning up ifFend, yet I fi,ve sat down r, ,1, • 3uisa, makes jm, although jting. Vi ible, to profit I Toulemak a 1 night, to see the proof; I over a full and s£ft down with j ^as next called )f raw walrui md received in family, parti- they knew the ,t. Toulemak, Dromised me a I have before calling up this t'-'i CHRISTMAS DAY. 233; spirit, a-iJ it was done in the same manner this time. When this was o^J-er, I had a new seal's skin spread for my bed ; and, in the midst of the family, who were arranged in a similar man- ner about the floor, I laid myself down to rest. " Our breakfast lasted at least four hours ; the hut ')eing constantly filled by fresh comers, among whom was my old friend Kettle. Toulemak immediately addressed him by the name of * Thief:* when, to my great amusement, the old fellow sat down, and gave a most humorous ac- count of his robbing 'Pari,* as he called Captain Parry, at which the whole party laughed immo- derately. Thus ended my visit to the huts ; and, as if the natives had made a resolution of behav- ing well to me, it was the only time that I remem- ber visiting them when the word ' Pilletay* (give me) was not repeatedly uttered. " Our second Christmas day arrived, and found us all in good spirits, and able to enjoy some ex- cellent old English roast beef, which had been hanging a year and a half, and would have kept still longer. This second year, however, tried the best men among us : and those who had suf- fered but little from the first, w^ere forced to confess themselves weaker in this. I, among the number,, was obliged to add considerably to my clothing, and we all suffered much from cold feet. X 3 Ill 234 STRATAGEMS OF THE BEAR. '^ About this time I heard some curious anecdotes of bears, from a very intelligent Esquimaux named Ooyarra. To hunt and watch them used to be a favourite amusement of his, when young ; and he boasted of having killed five in his life-time. *' Two walruses and their cubs were one day l3dng asleep on a piece of broken ice, when a bear was seen to swim slily up. He crept gently to the top of some lumps of ice, behind the walruses, and, loosening a block with his nose end paws, he rolled it, till It fell upon one of the old ones, which it killed. The other walrus and its cub rolled into the water, and the bear then descended and feasted very leisurely upon the dead walrus and its poor cub, which had no power of escaping, after the death of its parent. *^ The bear has recourse to stratagems almost as singular in catching the Ooghiok, a species of large seal, which, being of a timid nature, always lies close to the edge of a piece of ice, that he may, by one roll, get into the sea, to elude the persecutions of the enemy. These are restless creatures, sleeping in short naps, and rolling their heads from side to side, something like your little brother, Charles, when he gets himself to sleep. And,, in common with many other wild animals, they turn towards the wind, as if they expected an enemy front that quarter. AFFECTING TALE. 233 The bear, when he spies one of these animals, swims up to him in a direction opposite to the wipd, moving in short dives, and contriv- ing his last dive so that he pops out of the water just close to the seal, which, poor thing, sees him coming, and has no means of escape left. If it rolls into the water, it falls into its enemy's clutches; and if it lies still, the bear makes a spring, and fastens his destructive jaws upon him. " My attention was now much occupied with visiting the hut of Takkalikkita, whose wife and child were dangerously ill. The cold and damp situation in which we found them, induced Captain Lyon to take them into his cabin, where the poor woman died. The first care of poor Takkalikkita, after the death of his wife, was to dress the corpse exactly the same as if she had been living; it then was sewed up in a hammockv with the face left open, by the husband's desine^ The poor man was greatly relieved when we told him the body should be taken to the gvsi.z in A sledge drawn by men, instead of dogs ; for he re- lated, to our great horror, an instance in which the dogs had actually eaten a part of the dead body, while they were taking it to its place of in- terment. Th6 dogs were carefully tied up, and I went with the party on shore, where a grave. I Hill !i i'liiif m 236 AFVECTING TALE. about a foot deep, was dug. The body was placed on its back in this grave, and the husband cut the stitches which had fastened the hammock : and, though he did no^ throw it open, he made us understand that he wished it to be left uncohfined. We tlien covered the body up, and left it. Tak' k^likkita staid behind to address a few words to bis departed wife, and then followed us." Louisa. And what became of the poor baby, >ancle? . " Ah, poor little thing, I must tell you that the fatheji had appeared, as far as we could under- stand him, to wish that the child should be buried alive beside its mother; and, I believe, horrible as this seems, many of these northern people fancy that an un weaned child cannot live many days after the death of its mother, and, therefore, that it is kinder, by burying it alive, to save it the few days of suffering that it mijght otherwise linger through. ^rf ^r pr^t fit'; " When we returned from the burial, we found that the elder daughter, Sheera, had been nursing the poor little baby, her sister, and had marked upon her forehead a spot of soot, as a sign the child must die. The fat^er ."eemed convinced of this, toe ; and 1 had much difficulty to persuade hiin to hi me attempt to feed the child with some foup." ' .. , m iM^^iUxirieUmr \ r was placed and cut the mock: and, le made us uncohfined. .ft it. Tak- ew words to lis.'' ■ ; poor baby^ f » you that the ;ould urider- ild be buried eve, horrible hern people 3t live many ,d, therefore, re, to save it jlit otherwise ial, we found been nursing had marked 1 a sign the convinced of to persuade Id with some r, • \ GymM/?y/l/^4^^./r^ PubluIu'J Jpru .f 'f'ul^. bjJ.Ham.1. .^fBuiIo- (liin-h Zinl :..u..; AFFECTING TALE. S87 ; Louisa. . And did it live» uncle? << You shall hear, Louisa^ Aftermucfa peFsua** sion, Takkalikkita left me to do what I lik^d with the baby, saying, I might take it home to my "own cbuntry;; for, if it lived or if it died, he should never consider it his owa child any longer. His affection for it, however, was strong ; for, in the middle of the night, I was disturbed by loud sighs ; and, lobking up, I saw the poor fellow standing mournfully gazing upon his child. I got up, and entreated him to be composed dnd lie down. He did so; and when I turned to look at tlie child, I found she was dc d, and that the poor father had perceived it. Takkalikkita then told me that the child had seen its mother, who had beckoned for it to come to heaven ; and that he was not surprised the child had died, because infants never survive their mothers, and Sheera's black spot had made its death certain. " The poor little babe we buried in the snow ; and I went with Takkalikkita, a day or two after, to visit the grave of his wife. I observed him look carefully all around in the snow ; and, seeing no foot-marks, he muttered to himself ' No wolves— no foxes !^-Thank you- — thank you !* Then Ke began to talk to his vriSe, and told her which way the wind blew. Th(m he began a kind of song ; from which suddenly breaking off, he said ^if}''^. II :>' 238 SICKNESS AMONG THE ESQUIMAUX. 'Takba!' which means * Enough!* and walked away as fast as he could. .' " This inoffensive quiet family was now sent back to their hut with many presents, but not till they had gained our esteem by their gerdriiess. Before I have done with my friend To'^kalikkita, I must tell you, that, although he married two more wives before the end p^ *he month, iiis first ■J I he continued to visit daily the wife. . .; ** There Was much sickr ats, and many of the natives had di id been there ; and so carelessly do th aux bury the dead, that the body of another man had been almost entirely eaten by the dogs. " A widow, named Kagha, was so dreadfully ill and miserable, that she, :oo, was removed to the Hecla*s cabin, to be nursed ; but her ill temper gave us all a dislike to her : she never spoke but to complain, that as many presents had not been given to her as to the other invalids. As long as she was ill, great attention and care were shewn her, and when a little better, she was removed to the hut of a relation of her own, who promised to take care of her ; and though we clothed her with blankets and a new suit of clothes, she kept grumbling on to the last, and seemed determined that we should never have a better opinion of her. g .lAUX. and walked as now sent , but not till r ger^lciicss. ^ ro^^kalikkita, ^ he married ' ♦ne mouth, < J r ills first dreadfully ill imoved to the her ill temper r spoke but to lad not been As long as •e were shewn as removed to o promised to 5 clothed her hes, she kepi ed determined ipinion of her. '^ WANT OF SYMPATHY. 239 <^ But, attending to the sick, nursing them, or comforting them, is not among the good qualities of the Esquimaux ; and Kagha, though surrounded by relations, was soon again reduced to such a state of mizfery and filth, that Captain Parry had her removed to the hospital. Her friends had left her all alone, shut up in a small snow hut. On^ wick of her laiijp was burning; and her hair was frozer. to tiic bed-place, in a quantity of blood which she had spit up. All attempts to recover her were useless, and she died soon after her re- moval. She was actually starved to death, al-< though she had a number of relations residing near her; but we discovered thev had never been to her, nor supplied her with any kind of food, since she had left the ships. This fact, although true, is almos'. too shocking to believe : it shewed utter selfi^jhness and insensibility to each others* sufferings in these Esquimaux. The body of Kagha was not removed from th^. ship for two days ; yet not a creature made the slightest inquiry about her, nor seemed to care or know when she was buried." t ja -* " I should imagine, uncle," said Tom, " that the ill temper of this woman had prevented them caring about her." " It might possibly increase their insensibility, but it was not the cause of it ; as I have seen a va- 240 VISIT TO A DISTANT VILLAGE. riety of instances of it, some of which I have not mentioned to you. " Having heard of a village about twenty miijes off, I drove over to visit it ; and found a party of twenty-eight Esquimaux, living in six small snow huts. Plenty reigned he/e ; and one young man had made himself so ill with eating, that I took out my knife and bled him, ordering at the same time his mother not to let him taste any meat for many days, and to let him have nothing but soup. The youth looked very surly, and seemed to con- sider me as his murderer. u ** My reception at the most miserable of the huts was truly hospitable, and compensated for the uncomfortable ness of the place, whose snowy roof kept dripping upon us. As for food, they would have stulfi (1 me., had I been inclined ; and I, in return, took t);e baby, which was covered by a fox- skin, sewed up like a jacket, and by singing all manner of baby songs, quite won the hearts of its parents. I slept in this small hut, with the lamp close to my nose, and a young seal for my pillow. [ ** It was with delight we perceived our second h spring returning, but it did not find us all in such good health as the former one. Mr. Elder, the Hecla's mate, who was making this voyage for a third time^ died of the dropsy, after a few days' confinement. It was with difficulty we could dig 1 1 have not ;wcnty mlks id a party of t small snow i young man that I took r at the same any meat for ing but soup, jemed to con- ble of the huts sated for the ise snowy roof a, theywouW ed; and Ij in veredbyafox- )y singing all le hearts of its with the lamp for my pillow, red our second 1 us all in such Ir. Elder, the is voyage for a ;era few days' GENERAL THAW. ' 241 hitt^ a grave, as the enrtli wa« still so hard as to resist the stroke of our pickaxes. The funernl service was read over his grave, and two volleys were fired. << And now a general breaking-up was about to take place. The ice was thawing; the Esquimaux were driven out of their snow-huts, whir' re quickly disappearing from the face of u the scenes of so much merriment, so muci ing, and latterly of so much illness, were now nearly levelled with the ground, without leaving a trtice behind. **In this general mbveir.ent, our plans for the future were to be determined upon; and, as We had had plenty of time to trlk them over during the v.rinter months, this did not take long. " It was found impossible for both ships to pro- ceed on the voyage of discovery, as the provisions would not hold out for another winter. It was decided, therefore, that the Hecla should return home as soon as the ice would permit, and that the Fury should continue sailing northward : Captain Parry bravely resolving that, as long as he could, he would continue his search for this much wished for western passage. " Before the ice broke up, then, we had much to do ; our two fine teams of dogs and our sledges eiiected the removal of all the Hecla's stores to the IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) t ^ ,^ K^ ^^ A^:^- A^ v\% :/. ^ z ^ 1.0 H^fl Ui 1.1 l.-^ Kfi ||l-25l||l.4|L6 • A" ► ^ ■ ^ 0> 7. w '^ ^# Photographic Sciences Corporation ^ -^^^ ■"1," ^ ^<6'^ 73 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716)872-4503 '^ 242 ESQUIMAUX COQUETTE. Fury. These fine animals would drag an amaz- ingly heavy load, at the rate of a yard a minute, from one ship to the other ; even the heavy an- chors were conveyed in this manner. *< A stray Esquimaux or two occasionally visited the ships till we left the place ; and one widow, whose name will amuse you, if you can make it out, Ang>ma-loo-coo-ing-a, walked fifteen miles to see us. She was very pretty, and quite conscious of it. As I sat at my table reading, and seeming to take no notice of her, I saw her go to the glass, look in it, and put her head and face in pretty atti- tudes, and smile to shew her teeth, which she rubbed with a piece of paper. She appeared quite charmed with her fine black eyes ; and at last, when she could refrain no longer, she came up to me, and said, * Oh ! how pretty my eyes are !* '^ Another man, with his wife, came to see us. This man had received many presents, and, among others, about six shirts, which he wore all at once, the cleanest at the top. He was a well- made tall fellow, and some of us gave him a suit of English clothes, in which he strutted about quite proud. His wife, too, made him a green baize great-coat, with white collar and cuffs, so that he thought himself a ' Kabloona' complete. He was an intelligent man, and told ,me many things which I had not heard before; sonie of VALEDICTORY VISITS. 243 which I would willingly have disbelieved, had not they been confirmed afterwards by Toulemak. ** Some years ago, he told me there had been a famine so grievous, that one band of Elsquimaux attacked anotlier, and, horrid to tell, had eaten the dead bodies of their enemies. '* He told me, likewise, that in some tribes of Esquimaux, murders are not uncommon ; but that a man is never killed unless he is alone and asleep. His relations never revenge his death immediately, but wait for some opportunity, which it is difficult to find ; because the murderer never lies down to sleep when others do, but he wanders about in the night) andsleepsin the day when all his neighbours are about, and he is therefore in little danger. ^* Toulemak and his wife ctane to take leave of me; but, as I found they began to beg for presents, I gave them nothing, which made them very angry ; especially when they saw me load others, who came at the same time, but did not beg. Toulemak, how- ever, politely desired me to give his compliments to the Englishmen's conjuror (meaning the king) ; and I was directed to deliver this polite message to him: * Toulemak speaks King George the Fourth welly well, I taank you.* ^* Having taken leave of these amusing people, I shall cut short my narrative, which I fear has already been rather tedious. Y 2 '244 RETURN TO WINTER IS1.AND. *' We made various excursions up the country, but saw nothing very new ; and, notwithstanding our daily hopes of geUing free from the ice, and leaving Igloolik, we were actually detained on the ^^ome spot till the middle of Augusjt, having been there nearly eleven months. ** .This loi^g : detention caused a considerable alteration in q^r plans. The. health of our crew was not a§ 1% Iwd heen^t the beginiiing pf the spring; and Captain Parry felt spsure tb^t he should risk the liye$ of maiiy of hh* men by oon- tinuing his voyage, and spending anolther winter in the arptjo regipost th»t he respired the Fuiry should retun^ a^ wi^ «^ tlie Heclm as sptpA, as they could be released* 'f The happy day at length arriyed; We b^eke through the ice^ si^iled again in open sea» and took a final leave of the island of IglooUk, which, though an insignificant, looking island* is $n. im* portant Esquimaux establisihmenty ha-ving np less than four villages ilpou it^ '< After a d^gerou^ and trpublesome 'oyage through the ice, we re^^hed the coast of Winter Island, our old s|atlpn, and some of us went in boats to visit the shore^ The graves of our mess- mates remained undistnr,bed; and. radishes^ mus- tard, cress, and onions, had survived ^e win- ter, sheltered by a warm covering of snow. It is ARRIVAL IN SHETLAND. 245 remarkable, too, that we again saw the aurora borealis at Winter Island, which we had scarcely had a gilsnpse of, all the time we had been at Igloolik. <* We again set sail on the first of Septem- ber, the ice and fog preventing our proceeding rapidly. It was about this time that we had the misfortune to lose another of our companions, and he was deeply regretted. You remember the name of Mr. Fife, who was one of our party in the first voyage. He had been long ill of the scurvy, was a stout man, and had got very fat during the winter, and had used but little exercise. He had a dislike, too, to acids, which are a very necessary antidote to the scurvy. " Our ships were now in very great danger, having never encountered more terrific icebergs ; and we were in hourly expectation of some great disaster. We, however, providentially escaped, and afterwards had a very speedy voyage till we got to the Shetland Isles. " We landed at Lerwick ; and an old sailor, like myself, has seldom experienced such feelings as at that moment, when, after an absence of two years Lnd a half, I once more set foot upoii Bri- tish ground, among my own countrymen, and heard all that had happened to our country during that length of time. Y 3 84a WEJUCOME RECEPTIOV. '* The liihabitAnts of Lerwick flocked out to meet u«» clothed in their best dreeses;, aud we IfMided. Amidst theic cheers. The towa waa illu- minated at night, and a number of tar , barrels were burned in every^ street. Every inhabitant was reac^ with hi^ compUmeots^ and every, door was hospitably opened for our reception* ** On Sunday^ we all attended at church, and the venerable Mr. Menzies gave^ thanks for oiur safe return in a most beautiful prayer, whichdrew tears from the eyes of every one there, who seemed rather as if they were. rejx)icing for the. return of belo\%d relations, than, for that of mere strangers." PART IV. CHAPTER I. " SuR£LY> uncle, this is the age of adventure," said Tom, one morning, as he entered with a bopk under his arm. " And I think you will agree with me, whea I tell you, that. I have met with some adventures still, more wonderful than your's." <« WeU, Tom, let us hear what it is ; for, in re- turn for my, long stories, I shall be very glad to be amuised with some . fi^h adventure^, provided they are, like my own, true." . A PEDESTRIAN ADVENTURER. 24T Tom. What do you think, uncle^ of a mad trayeUing from England, through Russia, across the wilds of Siberia, to Kamtschatka, the very re- motest extreme of Asia, and almost entiroly on foot, and with very little money ? Uncle Richard. It sounds very wonderful and wild ; what can havo been the motive for so extraordinary an enterprize, Tom ? Tom* My hero was Captain. Cochrane, an officer in the British Navy. He had been a great traveller before ; having made a pedestrian tour through France, Spain, and Portugal; and he had served in the West-^Indies for ten years. Thisgave him, I suppose, a love of travelling, for he offered his services to Government, to explore the interior of Africa, in search of the source of the river Niger. For some reason or. other, it seems this offer was rejected ; but he was so. bent upon en* terprize, that he obtained leave of absence for two years, and determined to travel absolutely round the globe, traversing Europe in the first places then Asia,: and crossing over by Behring^s Straits, to proceed through America homewards. And this nice little journey, uncle, he resolved to undertake on foot. Now what do you think of the scheme ? Uncle Richard. I think, Tom, it was as glorious a one as Charles, in his most boastful mood, would be anxious to. undertake. I conclude, S48 DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. however, that he gave up a part of it ; for if he had crossed over to America, and traversed its wilds I doubt whether he would have lived to tell the tale; but, at all events, Tom, if he performed half of what he intended to do, 1 shall think him a bold adventurous fellow. ** I should like to hear more of him ; but his books, there, under your arm, look formidable to a sailor like me, who am better pleased when talking than when reading; so suppose, Tom, you undertake to tell me all you think worth re- membering of his adventures, and I will promise to be a patient listener, as well as Charles here, restless fellow as he is." Tom's vanity was not a little gratified at being thought capable of affording amusement to his uncle ; and therefore, when evening came, it was with modest pride that he spread out his maps and began his narration. " With the determination to trace the shores of the Polar Sea by land, along the coast of ^orth America, while Captain Parry and you, uncle, were attempting to do it by sea, Captain Cocli- rane left England in the year 1820. He filled his knapsack with every thing that he considered requisite, added to a few papers and documents . and with this humble equipment, he prepared to visit the wilds of Asia and America. JOURNEY TO PETERSDUROH. 949 MILITARY COLLEOE AT OMSK. 259 ** The scenery of this pait is described with great justice in the story of * Elizabeth, or the Exiles of Siberia ;' but the town of Ishim, so much talked of there, is a most miserable place. " The loss of his passport and papers, which a rogue (for he had got into the land whither pick- pockets are banished from Russia) had stolen out of his knapsack while he was at dinner, a little damped his enjoyment, and he pursued his way to Omsk in a melancholy mood. Here he applied to the police, and, after some trouble, got his pass- port again ; for the thief, finding that he had got only some useless bits of paper instead of money, took the trouble to send them after him, There is a noble military college at Omsk, founded by Alexander, upon the Lancasterian system, in which the youths are taught arithmetic, mathe- matics, algebra, fortification, and some of the Oriental languages. Count IvanoiF is at the head of the school, which is for the children of soldiers; and he is rather like a father to them. There is another school, too, for the Cossacks, but it is not so well managed. " The wandering Kirguese live in the neigh- bourhood of this city. These people are divided into three hordes, each of which is governed by a Khan, although tributary to Russia. They travel about Siberia, from Omsk to the Caspian, 260 CALMUC AND KIROUESE TARTARS. and trade in the way of barter, exchanging cattle for tobacco and spirits. Many of these Tartars are to be seen in Omsk, who have been sold when children., by their wretched parents, for a glass of spirits or a pound of tobacco. The Kirguese are accused, too, of kidnapping and selling Christians. In fact, they are a kind of Gipsy race, living in a place just as long as they can find forage for their horses, and in winter resorting to the woods for the sake of the fuel. Their tents are wretched ; an iron kettle and wooden spoons being their only furniture. \\ '^ The Calmucks are another strolling race, who live in this neighbourhood, though a distinct tribe, entirely differing from the Kirguese in form, feature, and origin ; and they are not tribu- tary to Russia. Like the Kirguese, they, too, will part with their children, in order to gratify the want of the moment. Their flat noses, small eyes, high cheeks, and yellow brown complexions, distinguish them from every other race. They are dishonest, but good-natured ; and, after much discipline, make good servants. These were the two people Captain Cochrane was going to asso- ciate with in his next ramble, which he began in good spirits, with his Cossack and some horses. He d'Tied on his road with two Kirguese chiefs, whose appearance was very striking. A long blue CHEAP LIVING IN SIBERIA. 201 cloth robe, ornamented with silver embroidery, and a silver belt, from which was hung a dagger, a knife, a pipe, and a tinder-box. A coloured shirt, large Tartar trowsers and boots, with a hand- some fur cap, completed his dress ; while a long beard and bare neck added to its peculiar appear- ance. They were excellent horsemen, being well accoutred, with a long whip, which served for the double purpose of whipping their horses and their cattle. The youth of this race are very handsome in general. From Omsk to Semipalatinsk^ the Kirguese territory extends, being bounded to the east by the noble river Irtish, which my traveller at length crossed, a little below the latter town. I must first, however, tell you, thiat at Semipala- tinsk he found another Lancasterian 3chool, of four hundred boys, which is very creditable to the Russian Government, which, however, would do well to examine the state of the police, for the neighbourhood is infested with robbers to a driead- ful degree. A poor pedlar Was robbed of his horse, besides roubles to the amount of a hun- dred pounds, without the slightest chance of re- covering them. After crossing the Irtish, Captain Cochrane saw melons, for the first timein that partj Avhich, with cucumbers and breadj were the usual food of the country people. Ten for a penny was the price at which he bought them ; and a penny a 262 ROMANTIC SCENERY. hundred for cucumbers, and five pence for forty .pounds of bread. Hospitality and abundance unit- ed here to make him fore well. Every thing con- spired to make his journey delightful. The scenery was magnificent; hitherto all had been flat, dreary, and void : now he had entered abold and mountain- ous country, partly cultivated, partly overspread with forests. It was the month of August. Tar- tar peasants tending their flocks were the only living objects; the sun was setting behind the mountains, to the west, the moon gave her light from an opposite point, and the waters of, the distant river, Ulba, gave a murmuring sound. He trotted along, enjoying, in solitude, this beau- tiful scene till midnight, when he halted at a vil- lage, and an easy ride next morning brought him to the Bourktarma. Here he reached the south- ern boundary of the vast Russian empire, and was again enchanted with the beauties of the scenery. The peasants regaled him with currants and melons ; and at length, in the middle of a beau- tiful moonlight night, he reached the last Russian frontier station, which was occupied by a single officer and a handful of men. This marks tHe boundaries between the two mighty empires of Russia and China. He forded a little stream, which in fact was the limit, and sat down upon a stone. It was near midnight, and the light of the SILVER MINES OF BARNAOULE. 263 moon fell upon the lofty granite mountains, which enclosed valleys more luxuriant than any in the world; yet all uninhabited, save by wild beasts. " Our adventurous traveller would wilb'ng- ly have extended his pilgrimage into China itself; but the extreme jealousy of this people, with regard to strangers, made him not dare to do so. He retraced his steps, therefore ; and, af- ter a perilous passage in his canoe up the Bourk- tarma, entered the noble Irtish. This stream, which extends from the confines of China to the Frozen Sea, might, if navigated by steam-boats, be most valuable for purposes of commerce. They had a rapid voyage down it, and made ninety miles in ten hours. << Leaving the Irtish, Captain Cochrane and his Cossack proceeded to the silver mines near Barnaoule ; here was a busy scene, carts of all shapes, canoes, and even coffins being employ- ed in carrying the earth and the ore. Five thousand people are employed in this manner alone. The thirty-two mines at Barnaoule yield an annual profit of two hundred thousand pounds. The silver is worked and sent in ingots to Petersburgh. The works are carried on night and day ; the workmen, about 82,000 in number, are divided into three parties, who are constantly at work ; for one week a party works through the 264 EXPEDITION TO THE FROZEN SEA. day ; for the next, through the night ; and the third week they are allowed to work their lands at home. Their wages for this hard labour are very trifling ; but their condition is not bad, be- cause they have plenty of time to cultivate their ground, on which they grow corn and vegetables. Most of them have horses, which they let out to carry the ore, and are extremely profitable to the owners. , ** The Governor-General arrived at Barnaoule while Captain Cochrane was there ; and he, as well as General Speransk^, the Governor, was very kind to our traveller. The former told him of an intend- ed expedition to the shores of the Frozen Sea, and offered him permission to join it, which the Cap- tain gladly accepted ; and after obtaining a most valuable letter of recommendation to all the heads of the government in various parts of Siberia, he set forth towards Irkutsk. << At Tomsk, which was the first principal town he came to, nothing fresh occurred to him, except that several of the things which the robbers near Pe- tersburgh had taken from him were there restored to him. He now passed over immense tracts of land, making nothing of a hundred miles, although mostly walking. The Tartar villages form the stages, and with some money in his purse, and provisions cheap, he wanted little. i % \ I IRKUTSK. 266 ** He had a specimen of the Cossacks* manner of getting what they want : for his attendant, not being able to get a horse so soon as he wanted it, took the elder of the village, whose duty it was to provide him with one, and gave h'm a sound drub- bing. CHAPTER II- ** I have now brought you, uncle, together with my traveller, as far as Irkutsk, where the reception he met with was most gratifying to a wanderer like himself, who had already traver- «ed so many hundreds of miles, and encountered so few of his fellow creatures; scarcely any, indeed, whose language was known to him, or with whom he could hold communication. ^* Parties were made to welcome and listen to his adventures ; and, among the many with whom he associated during his stay in Irkutsk, none in- terested him so much as Mr. and Mrs. Gedes- trom, who had travelled together across the Fro- zen Ocean, for the sake of discovery, in the years 1809, IBIO, and 1811. ^* From them he gained some useful informa- tion, and advice with regard to his future plans. '* At Irkutsk there is a large Lancasterian school; .and A prison so well conducted, that it 2 a 266 RUSSIAN HOSPITALITY. would have met the approbation even of the humane Howard I ** The society consists of military men, who are genteel, and look down upon the other set, the merchants, who are, in fact, little better than Jew pedlars, and though rich, are perfectly uneduca- ted and vulgar. '* A week's stay was all that this eager adven- turer allowed himself; and, with a fresh Cossack, he bent his steps towards Yakutsk. ^' Alternately walking and paddling in his canoe down the river Lena, at the rate of more than a hundred miles a day, they reached Ka- renga. His hospitable friends at Irkutsk had so loaded him with provissions, or, as they call it, bre€ui and aaltj that he needed nothiujf^ till he reached this other station, where he was again amply supplied.'* Uncle Richard. Surely, Tom, this beauti- ful trait in the Russian character, this hospitality of their's, deserves some remarks. I have heard it said, that a stranger may travel through the Russian Empire, as long as his conduct his good, and want for nothir g ; Captain Cochrane seems to have been an instance of the truth of this. The remark of course can only extend to the vmci- vilized parts; for v here there is much travelling, such unbounded ho&pit^^lity wouM be ruinous." even of the e ruinous. VOYAGE DOWN THE LENA. 267 Tom. Eight days' ' avy pulls down the river Lena, brought our Captain to Vittim, which is in the Tcpgousiun territory ; and in four mor< < he arrived at Jerbat. The stages were long ; and, as the river was filling with ice, the hardy Tongousian boatmen were obliged to strip, and, plunging into the water, to drag th'* boat along. The extreme cold of the water n nderad li.is a painful and dan- gerous operatic ii ; uu;.^ :ewardedby a mouthful of smoke from n p*pe, or a drop of brandy, they willingly underwent it. As the villagers were ail engagi d in fishing, they could not, at Jerbat, pro- cure either a boat or horses. They applied to the elder to provide them, showing him an order; but he, eyeing the traveller all over, said that the order referred to a Captain in the Navy, whereas the long beard and nankeen coat of our hero shewed him to be but a Russian pedlar. The Cossack would willingly have applied his stick to this old fellow ; but the Captain would not allow him : and he determined to throw his knapsack once more over his back, and walk along the o^^t till he should meet with some better " There is a cave on the shores of Lena, much venerated by the natives ; the roof is decorated with icicles, which, as they hang down, resemble chandeliers. . 2 A f 268 TONGOUSIAN TARTARS. " The Tongousians, who are wanderers, live in the north-west of Siberia. They are divi- ded into Forest and Desert Tongousi. The Forest Tongousi fish and hunt; those of the Desert tend their flock, and wander with them from pasture to past i; They are ic' ^laters, very few having been converted ; but they are honest and hospitable ; patient under hardships: grateful for kind treat- ment, but easily offended; and a blow is an insult they never forgive. i " They are small and delicate in form, and would be rather pleasing in appearance, were they not terribly filthy ; and, like our friends the Esqui- maux, they eat * any thing.' Their dress consists of rein-deer skin trowsers, with the hair inside, a lea- ther waistcoat and jacket, lined and ornamented with white fox-skins, and in cold weather a frock over all. A few additions, such as a fur cap, large gloves, a white fox- skin breast-cover, and a comforter round the neck, made of the tails of squir- rels, finish their attire; added to which, in severe weather, they have covers for their forehead, ears, nose, and chin. A bear-skin bed, a rein-deer skin blanket, lined v/ith wolf's fur, and made in the shape of a bag, form their comfortable equip- ments, 'y'^r ■.. ..-I :,'•■ .->-; *' Captain Cochrane took leave of the Ton- gousians, and, entering the Yakuti district, YAKUT TAftTAftS. 269 advanced by rapid stages in his canoe down the Lena, and in six days reached Yakutsk; the whole journey having been enlivened by the sight of numerous cheerful looking villagers* The Gover- nor, Captain Minitski, who had been many years in the English Navy, received him as a friend, and provided him with every thing that seemed needful for his future journey. " At Yakutsk, the river Lena is in summer four miles, in winter two and a half, broad. It is in fact a noble river, running from its source near Irkutsk a course of three thousand miles, till it empties itself by many mouths into the Frozen Ocean. Yakutsk is a straggling kind of town, con- taining however a large population; some of whom are Russians, some Yakuti, and some of other tribes. " They all pay tribute, not in money but in furs, mostly of the sable ; a fine black sable from Vittim is valued at from fifteen to twenty pounds. The inhabitants barter the skins of foxes, lynxes, squirrels, wolves, sables, otters, and martens, with the traders, in exchange for tea, tobacco, spirits, kettles, nankeens, knives, &c. ** Yakutsk is more deficient in society than Irkutsk. A tea party, as described by Cap- tain Cochrane, must certainly be a most stu- pid as well as ludicrous concern. A party of 2 A 3 - 270 SINGULAR TEA PARTY. natives, some males, some females, visit the house of the chief. The ladies might be dumb, for they never speak, and sit silently cracking a small kind of cedar nut, which grows abundantly in the neighbourhood. Perhaps half a dozen females may be assembled, and each eat as many hun- dred nuts, and leave the house without speak- ing one single word. They sip three or four cups of tea, as long as the copper tea-urn has any water in it ; but the way in which they use their sugar-candy, with which they sweeten their tea, is truly droll. Every one takes a lump out of the basin, and, instead of putting it into her tea, bites a little bit off with every cup of tea that she drinks ; so that there is generally a part of the lump left, which she carefully puts upon her cup when she has turned it down. When the party has broken up, these pieces are put back into the basin ; so that a lady has a chance of finding her own bitten piece of sugar-candy the next time she takes tea at the house. It is the same with their cakes, which they put behind them on their chair, and the pieces are collected when they are gone, and restored to the basket. " The gentlemen all this time drink rum and brandy punch. - ' " The dinner parties are no less pecuUar ; they have no chairs, but a long, table spread with fish ^ i ink rum and RUSSIAN MANNERS AT YAKUTSK. 271 pies, deers' tongues, roast beef, and wild berries. A glass of brandy is handed all round in the first place, which it is the fashion to refuse twice, and accept the third time. " In this little remote town, great attention is paid to etiquette. The ladies, when they visit the Governor's wife, all kiss her hand, while she sits like a princess upon a sofa, without taking the slightest notice of this mark of respect. " Some little time was spent here in preparing a travelling dress, suitable to the climate and the sea- son which Captain Cochrane was about to brave. This he thought he had amply done; but he had no idea of what he had to encounter. At Yakutsk he had gone about in his nankeen dress ; and while even the natives fancied he must be suffering from cold, his spirit was resolute. His active mind pre- vented him from dwelling upon his personal feel- ings, and kept him ever happy, because ever employed. " At length, on the last day of October, he set forth on his journey to Nishnei Kolymsk, a distance of one thousand eight hundred miles, at the coldest season of the year, and to the coldest extreme of Asia. His agitation was great at quitting his friends to go alone, ignorant as he was, not only of the Russian language, but of that spoken by the Tartar tribes. liw ^t-*^* « 27!^ YAKUT EQUESTRIANISM. <* The ice, which covered the Lena, allowed him with his Cossack guide to travel in a sledge upon its surface ; but the jolting and the cold so annoyed him, that he preferried walking. After sheltering for a night at ayourte, or hut, he continued his route, alternately walking and riding, and was cheered by the attentions of the Yakuti, who brought him milk, meat,' and clotted cream, mixed with wild raspberries. " The river Lena he now exchanged for the Aldan, another large river, which took him to a town of the same name. Horses here were procured with some difficulty to carry them on for one hundred miles into the Kolyma. These horses are small, but of a fine breed ; and a Yakut, for a wager, will ride one of them a hundred and seventy miles in four-and-twenty hours, in a good round trot, which would surprise our sportsmen at home. ** Their nights were now passed in the open air, in the following manner : The first thing, on reaching a spot suitable for shelter, was to unload the horses, loosen their saddles, take their bridles off, and tie them to a tree. To set the Yakuti to fell timber for a fire was the next, while the Captain and the Cossack cleared away the snow with wood spades. With branches of the pine they formed a seat, which, with the fire iii ihe centre and a SIBERIAN MOUNTAINS. 273 leathern bag beneath them, made them comforta- ble. The kettle soon boiled, and then their suf- ferings vfere forgotten. But poor Captain Co- chrane was worse clad than any of the party ; and while one side of him was roasting, the other would be freezing; on which account he was frequently obliged to get up and run about to warm himself. << In ascending the mountains which form a kind of barrier between Northern and Southern Siberia, Capt. Cochrane occasionally took shelter in a cha- rity yourte, which is a kind of hut, built by some kind people for the accommodation of travellers. In these yourtes, a large opening in the roof selves both for window and chimney ; the centre of the hut is left for the fire-place, and at some little distance round are ranged snug little cells for sleeping places. The outside is banked up with snow, and the roof is covered in with the same. The distance at which these yourtes are placed is inconvenient; if they were twelve miles apart instead of twenty-five, it would be much better. The country was very picturesque, and the val- leys between the mountains furnish fine timber. Animation only is wanting ; for, in a journey of iialf the length of England, not a single dwelling- house was met with. ,*,rt.,tv; " After leaving Baralass, the weather became I ' vfi^M 274 YAKUT VORACITY. dreadfully cold. Parties of Yakuti on horseback, armed with bows and arrows for hunting, were here and there met with, who were always civil and obliging; and from a Yakut prince they received a bowl of frozen milk. They soon entered the valley of Tartan, where they killed a deer; and the marrow out of the fore-legs was given to Cap- tain Cochrane, as the most dainty part. The deer weighed about two hundred pounds, but it served only for a single meal : for three or four Yakuti will easily devour that quantity ; it being with them, as with the Esquimaux, always either glut- tony or starvation. " Captain Cochrane saw a child not above five years old ; the little fellow was crawling in search of tallow spots, which had fallen from a candle ; and hearing from the people about that this was eaten in common with every thing else, he gave him three whole candles, which he devoured one after the other; a few pounds of sour frozen butter, and a lump of yellow soap, were then eaten up by this promising child ; and he probably could have done more, if Captain Cochrane had not de- sired the people to desist. *' It is no wonder that men can eat so much, when they are accustomed to it from their earliest infancy. A Yakut will eat forty pounds of meat a-day, however putrid it may be ; and he will drink off tea or soup in a boiling state." DIFFICULTIES OF THE JOURNEY. 275 Uncle Richard. I might fancy, Tom, that you were telling me some of my own tales over again ; so much do the eating powers of these Asiatics resemble those of my Esquimaux friends. Tom. They are not selfish, however, with their greediness ; for Captain Cochrane remarked that, in Siberia, whoever will share the trouble of getting, may be sure of obtaining his part of the food ; and he always made a point of joining in ^he occupation of whatever party he met> The Siberian fishermen have an ingenious contrivance for casting their nets under the ice, by means of large holes, which they cut at distances, and slide their nets from one to the other. ♦* You must now, uncle, follow my traveller over terrible ropds. Often and often was he oblig- ed to help the natives to clear the snow, before his horses could proceed. Sometimes they were obliged to unload, and drag the baggage for many yards. When they left this tedious path, and went along the river, they were* not much better off; for the ice was so slippery, that, without first chopping it up with hatchets, they could not get on at all. They tied cloths to the horses' feet, and tried every contrivance; but, with all this, they could only just go by very short steps; and they often fell groaning under their burdens, in a man- ner most distressing to witness. Captain Cochrane had two horses for his own use ; and his plan was 276 A MISERABLE TOWN. to lead one over a rough part, and tie him to a tree, while he returned to fetch the other. ** This laborious sort of life lasted three days ; and his feet pained him so much, that it was most fortunate they came to an extensive plain, now and then meeting with a charity yourte, in which . they could, at least, rest their weary limbs. '< A few more dangerous passes over tremendous mountains, where not an object met his eye, ex- cept a few little crosses, on which the Yakuti, as they passed, cast a horse's hair, in token of grati- li tude for their deliverance, brought him at last to Zashiversk, a miserable town on the banks of the Indigirka river. The desolate scenery around this place can hardly be described. He had tra- velled from Tabaiak to this place, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, without meeting a single human habitation ; and he now reached a toum, in which there were only seven inhabi- tants ! " Two clergymen, two officers, a post-master, a merchant, and a widow, form the society of the place ; the river supplies them with fish ; but as not a blade of grass grows near, and no horses are kept within thirty miles, there is difficulty in bringing hay for the support of two cows, ^ The hospitality of these people was as great as their poverty, and Captain Cochrane lived luxurir ously on the fief h of hares, wolves, bears, elks, and FROZEN FISH. 2t7 reindeer ; an J, what he considers as the greatest treat he ever enjoyed, frozen raw fish.'* Uncle Richard. I can bear witness for him there. I nave eaten a whole fish in this state, and prefer it to the finest jelly, or oysters. It is cut in slices with a sharp knife, from head to tail. Tom. With a bag of these dainties, my tra- veller again set forth, after taking a grateful leave of his hospitable entertainer at Zashiversk. The frozen surface of the Indigirka river gave him and his companion almost as much trouble as ever; and as he rode along, exposed to the cold bleak north wind, his knees had a feeling of deadness in them, for which he could not account. An old pedlar passed him, and, by signs and words, told him he would lose his legs, if his knees were not better protected : he offered him a pair of his own souturee, or knee-preservers, made of reindeer's legs, which Captain Coch- rane gladly accepted. The warmth they gave him had a wonderful effect in restoring the use of his knees, and convinced him of the necessity of taking care of the extremities. Charles. This reminds me of your golden rule, uncle : Follow the custom of the natives, in whatever climate you are. *- Uncle Richard. It is but natural to sup- pose that experience mubt teach those who live in ^- 2 B f t 278 A SCOLDING HOSTESS. a cold climate, the best mode of adapting them- selves to it. Tom. My travellers soon began to suffer from snow blindness; but their own sufferings were forgotten when they reached a habitation, in which all the people were starving to death. They had actually resigned themselves to die, and were not willing to be disturbed. A little warm tea roused them ; and they summoned resolution to go with the party to the next station, where they obtained a supply of fish from peasants almost as poor as themselves. ". They stopped a few dayi at Sordak, another poor Russian station, and then proceeded towards the Kolyma. The first yourte they came to was occupied by noisy children, growling dogs, and, worst of all, a scolding hostess. Poor Captain Cochrane unluckily hung his cap and gloves to dry upon the pegs which held the images she worshipped ; and the woman was very angry and furious, till the Cossack, to pacify her, told her that he was an English priest, and pointed to his long beard to confirm this fib of his. From this time the Captain always went by the name of the ' English priest*. " He now reached the Kolyma ; and, crossing its noble stream, entered Sredne Kolymsk, and took possession of an empty house in the town. DOG TRAVELLING. 279 About 01 e hundred people form the population of the place, and they are supported by fish from the river. The people came and threw themselves upon their knees before the supposed priest, for his blessing, and brought him presents of sables, which he in vain begged them to take back. To return a present they consider a great insult. " He left his faithful Cossack behind him; and, accompanied by a poor fellow, followed the course of the Kolyma. He was now to the north of the Arclit Circle ; but he had not lost the sight of the sun, wiiich was the only thing that cheered his de- solate path. *' The horse track now was at an end ; and you must fancy my traveller in a kind of vehicle, drawn by a team of thirteen dogs. A blanket and pillow, besides his bear skin, formed a kind of bed inside, which was covered over with a frame of oil-cloth. He attempted to lie down in this bed, but felt so dreadfully suffocated, that he took his knife and cut his way out of it in a great passion, and, tossing the covering into the snow, exposed his face and neck to the air, and thus proceeded. He still suffered from want of exercise ; and at last became so drowsy, that the driver had great dif- ficulty in rousing him from this dangerous state of stupefaction. " He was carried fifty-five miles by the same 2b 8 280 NEW year's gifts. ^ dogs ; and, after a perilous journey, he reached Nishnei Kolymsk on the last day of the year. His sufferings had been great ; for, notwithstand- ing the care of Mr. Minitsky, he was worse clad than any of the poorest guides or attendants ; and if it had not been for the providential present of the knee-caps, nothing could have enabled him to reach the end of the journey." - > »> CHAPTER HI. II " Captain Cochrane was received at Nishnei Kolymsk by Baron Wrangel, who gave him a room in his own house ; and he was lucky in the time ot hif? arrival, for, the next day being new- year's iay, he was overwhelmed with presents. First, w^'iile he was at breakfast, came two large fish, about two hundred pounds weight each; this, he vas told, was for his winter's store, as every one had already laid in their's, and it could not be supposed that he had brought any with him. Next came a leathern frock, to be worn while he was in the Kolyma. It was trimmed with sable and marten fur. Boots, trowsers, shoes, and stockings, were added, sufficient for a year's wear ; besides which, a bear's skin for his bed, a leathern blanket lined with hare's skin, and gloves, were sent him by the ladies, * u KISIINEI KOLYMSK. 281 Baron Wrangel was preparing' for his ex- pedition to ascertain whether the continent of Asia joins that of America, as some have sup- posed. Captain Cochrane ofFertid his services to accompany him ; but they could not be accepted, because he was a foreigner, and had not procured special permission from the Emperor of Russia. " He spent two happy months, however, in this remote corner of the earth, on the very shores of the Frozen Ocean." Uncle Richard. Come, Tom, let us hear how he amused himself; I may get some new ideas for my next visit to the Arctic regions. Tom. Then I must mention to you, uncle, the ice mountains, which are, in fact, a Russian amusement; a number of feasts; many interest- ing books lent him byBarop Wrangel ; and, what interested him most, making observations relative to the country. " Nishnei Kolymsk is rather a large town for that part of the world, and has four hundred inhar bitants. The want of grass prevents thtm from keeping more than two cows and a few horses, which feed upon stunted trees, bark, and moss. Cossacks, pedlars, and priests, compose the populace; the latter are merchants, too, and are more indus- trious in trading than in saying their prayers. In summer, they float the wood down the Kolymaj 2 b3 M 28^ IMERACHISM. build, and lay in stores for firing* In autumn and spring, they fish and shoot birds. The women embroidc5r all the articles of dress, and assist in fishing. Farther to the south, they mind the cat- tle. The riches of the people consist chiefly in their dogs, of which there are about eight himdred in the town. They take great care of them, and for six months in the year, allow them a plentiful supply of fish : about ten herrings each daily is their portion ; and the natives must be in a very starving condition before they will touch any of fi the fish allotted to the dogs. - " The Kolyma is^ not nearly so productive' in furs as it used to be ; but foxes, white, blue, and red, are still met with on the shores of the Icy Sea. " There are two very curious disorders here, the accounts of which have made me laugh much. One of them is called Imerachism, and -does not affect the health of a person, but makes him do very ludicrous things. An Imerach cannot help imitating "whatever he sees the person doing who stands before him. He flies into violent passions, or fits of laughter, without any reason. " A dog-master, who was an Imerach^ once saw his team of dogs attacked by a white bear ; he ran to their defence, uad the bear, seeing htm come up, reai*ed on his hiiad legs, and began cry- A LUDICROUS DISORDER. 283 ing and roaring in a great rage. The dog-master did just the same ; the bear beg^n to dance about, the dog-master followed his example, and the scene was most ludicrous, though very dangerous, till the other driver came up, and giving the bear a blow upon the nose, secured him." Uncle Richard. The nose, Tom, I suppose your traveller tells you, is the only vulnerable part of the bear, which can be attacked without fire- arms; and even then they must be shot through the head before they can be secured. » " Have you any other anecdote, Tom, of this curious disorder ?" » Tom. There were two old ladies, both afflict- ed with this disorder, and they were one evening sitting opposite to one another at tea, when a mis- chievous person put his hand behind each of their backs, and gfintly bent them forwards. The two old ladies instantly exchanged cups and saucers with one another, to the great diversion of the company. " Many people of rank have been banished from Russia to this remote region; and the punishment must be a most severe one — cut off from every comfort, as well as from friends and fortune. > " In the end of February, Baron Wrangel left the town, and with his party proceeded down the 1 1 284 TCHOUKTCHI BAPTISM. W Kolyma, with the intention of tracing the shores of the Frozen Oqean as far as the East Cape, .. " Captain Cochrane having made up his mind to visit the fair of the Tchouktchi, and from thence to cross over Behring's Strait into North America, set off, a few days after, accompanied by Mr. Ma* tuishkin and a few friends. I think this must be considered as almost his first entrance among savages. " The fair took place at the fortress, about one hundred and fifty miles from Nishnei. It commenced by the Russian commissary baptizing two of the chiefs. These chiefs and their followers afterwards came in a kind of procession, dressed in their gayest apparel, seated in a narte drawn by two rein deer, about thirty-five pairs of them. After they had paraded a little, the priest bap- tized other men and women ; not by sprinkling them with water, but obliging them to strip and plunge three times into a cauldron of ice-water. The long hair of the women became surround- ed by icicles. Tobacco was given by way of present to the new converts, who like their re- wai'd so well, that they have been known to go over and over again to be christened. The com- missary then declares that the fair cannot be- gin till he has received a tribute for the Emperor Alexander, and all the chiefs came forward with t. PERPLEXING DEMUR. 285 a red fox-skin apiece. The pi-iest blesses them, the poor people are quite happy, and very soon get quite drunk. " The comnussary then introduced the subject of Captain Cochrane*s wish to travel through their country, by telling them that he was come from the Emperor of Russia to accompany them through their dominions as interpreter, under- standing that two strange ships had arrived off their coast, with whom they wished to trade. The chief replied : * We want no interpreter, and will take none.* This was rather unpromising. But Captain Cochrane begged that they might be told that it could do them no harm to allow him to go with them, and it would be better than offending the great emperor. Another chief answered, that if the great emperor wished to send interpreters, he could doubtless afford to pay for them. " In fact, they demanded a payment of several thousand pounds weight of tobacco ; which you know, uncle, our poor traveller was utterly unable to give. The chiefs then agreed that he must be a poor emperor, who would not give such a present as that; and that Captain Cochrane must be a pitiful interpreter, who could not advance it him- self: and they added, sagaciously enough, * We doubt whether your friend can be an interpreter fi*om the emperor, for he cannot speak the Rus- I / 286 MANNERS OF THE TCHOUKTCHI. sian language ; and, if he speaks neither Tchoukt- chin or Russian, of what use can he be to us ?" Uncle Richard. Your traveller was, in my opinion, rightly served ; for I am a plain old sailor, and never can think deception or falsehood justi- fiable on any pretence whatever ; and I am always pleased when the plain open truth appears and puts them to shame. . Tom. Thfts, foiled in his wish of travelling through their country. Captain Cochrane determin- ed to see all that he could of this singular people. He visited their camp, which was a few miles dis- tant from tlie fortress, and consisted of three la»rge and three small tents. The large tents,for the chiefs and their families, were horribly dirty ; but the smaller ones, for the poorer people, were clean and comfortable. Like the Esquimaux huts, they arc warmed and lighted by a single lamp; and the fur- niture is still more simple. A reindeer skin, lined with white fox's fur, is their bed, while an axe, a wooden bowl, and a few spoons, are all they need for their simple cookery. " Our traveller and his companion entered the tent of a toion, or chief, who with his wife and daughter were all naked. They received their visitors hospitably, however, and cooked them some reindeer flesh, while their guests lolled on the reindeer bed. The want of air in the tent COMPASSION FOR BRUTES. 287 rendered the smell so unpleasant and suffocating, that the visit was but a short one. The toion drove them back to the fortress in a narte, drawn by two reindeer : it was quite a neat concern — leather thongs served for reins, and he used a very pretty kind of whip, made of a long elastic cane, with an ivory knob at the end, formed out of the tooth of a sea-horse. A thump on the back with this knob made the animals pace away famously. But I am pleased to say, uncle, that these savages are not behind-hand with your's in humanity to their brutes. They never whip either their rein- deer or their dogs, without it is absolutely neces- sary, but treat them quite as companions." Charles. Ah, what a good lesson might these savages afford to many a civilized English- man. I saw a poor horse dragging a boat along the canal yesterday ; its bones were starting through its skin, and its leader was lashing it so unmerci- fully that Louisa began to cry, and I could scarcely help giving the man a good blow with my cane. Tom. I think the feeling of compassion for brutes is carried too far, if possible, among these Tchouktchi, who even consider it unmanly to ride; and walk great distances rather than fatigue their animals. They only allow their women and chil- dren to ride, when they are going a long journey < " On returning to the fortress, they found the I i 288 TCHOUKTCHI FAIR. \'. fair going on briskly. It was conducted in the following manner : the Tchoiiktchi had arranged themselves in a semi-circle opposite the fortress ; their little nartes were in front, covered with the furs they were going to barter, each native stand- ing by his own. The Russians place their large bags of tobacco in the middle of the semicircle, and then walk round, examining the furs and in- quiring their prices by means of interpreters. The natives take no trouble about the matter, anC. leave the Russians to drag their heavy bags about for hours, before they will agree to exchange. Just before the signal for barter is given, the sc^ne is quite amusing. Russian pedlars, with pots, pans, kettles, knives, spoons, needles and scissors, hanging rattling about them in all directions, look like May-day sweeps. Cossacks, officers, priests, men, women, and children, are all thus oddly decked, to which a few of the richer pedlars add bells, corals, and pipes. "In exchange for these small articles, the Rus- sians receive reindeer flesh and sea-horses, teeth. The heavy furs of wolves and bears are sold at a cheap rate, too, because they are troublesome for the natives to take back, or expensive for the Russians to transport. But tobacco was the article they received in exchange for their more valuable furs, such as red, white, and blue foxes, id in the arranged ! fortress; 1 with the ive stand- heir large lemicircle, irs and in- jters. The atter, an^.'. 3ags about ange. Just the sc^ne with pots, d scissors, directions, s, officers, e all thus er pedlars the Rus- ses, teeth. 2 sold at a lesome for ve for the was the heir more tue foxes, TCHOUKTCHI FAIR. 289 otters and martens, a few articles of dress, and ornaments made from sea-horses* teeth. These, however, are not procured from their own coun- try, but come from the Kargaules, a nation of North America, some few of whom were likewise ai the fair. " The price set by the Russians was one marten park, or frock made of twenty marten skins, and fifteen red foxes, for every hundred weight of tobac- co ; but the Tchouktchi were very wary in making a bargain, and the Russians were obliged to lower their price. It is difficult to cheat a Tchouktchi, though all manner of ways are tried : sometimes by wetting the tobacco, to increase ^ts weight. The natives never buy without trying the tobacco by squeezing a leaf as hard as possible in their hand. If the leaf leaves any moisture, it is a sign it has been wet ; if it keeps in the shape that it has been squeezed to in the hand, it is reckoned weak ; but, if it expands quickly, it is considered strong and good tobacco. " On the third day of the fair, the Russians brought their vodka to the market ; and the wary Tchouktchi produced their most valuable goods — the brown and black tbx-skins, but they sold them very dear, and took numbers back with them, " This, most probably, was because they a/c not able to carry more than a certain weight of 2c 290 CHARACTER OF THE TCHOUKTCHI. *^ tobacco, which is too heavy for their reindeer, whom they are so unwilling to overload, that every native sets off homeward with forty or fifty pounds of tobacco upon his own back. Their jparney homeward, towards the Bay of St. Law- rence, takes them seventy or ninet}^ days, the dis- tance being near five hundred miles." ,. Charles. Surely, the same reindeer cannot drag their nartes all that distance ? Tom. No; the reindeer take them as far as the river Tchaon, where the natives have lefi their own, which they again take possession of, and leave the others there. ' This fair is chiefly to supply the remote tribes of the Tchouktchi; the Russian pedlars and mer- chants trading along the nearer rivers themselves. Each tribe has a chie^ or toion, three of whom came to the fair. They all pay a small tribute to the Emperor, but call themselves independent. They are distinct from each other, and speak different languages, but all so difficult to pro- nounce, that the interpreters are always laid up with sore throats three days bfter the fair has begun. isvi ' " As a nation, these Tchouktchi are much more intelligent than the o^her northern Asiatics; al- most all of the boys reading and writing pretty well. They are informed of every thing that takes HI. w ' reindeer, load, that I forty or ck. Their f St. Law- ^s, the dis- >er cannot I as far as ^e lefi their on of, and mote tribes :s and mer- themselves. e of whom II tribute to dependent. and speak ult to pro- lys laid up ;he fair has much more Asiatics; al- ting pretty s that takes CHARACTER OP THE TCHOUKTCHI. 291 place at Irkutsk and Yakutsk almost as soon as it has happened ; and they talk it over just as our vil- lage politicians do the gossip of the day. ** Captain Cochrane, by means of interpreters, held many conversations with the chiefs. Thfey told him that no land was ever seen to the north of their country ; nothing but huge mountains of ice for ten months of the year. That during August and September the ice is a little broken, but not sufficiently for ships to pass through." Uncle Richard. That is bad news for us^ if ever we go to the Arctic regions again. How- eVer, go on, Tom, for I am interested with your account of these savages. ' ToM. They are indeed a peculiar race. I am going, however, to close my account of them. In some respects they resemble the Esquimaux ; and Captain Cochrane is inclined to think that they are of American rather than of Asiatic ori- gin. They are avaricious, but honest ; they are fond of tea ; and as for tobacco, they eat it, they smoke it, they chew it, and make snu£P of it. They are a small but healthy race ; and their complex- ions are fair. Their reindeer dresses are lavge and cumbersome, but clean. I must not omit re- marking, that their large iron kettle, which is their most valuable piece of furniture, is called * Cookie,' in their language ; and it is possible that 2 c 2 292 RETURN TO THE KOLYMA. A they are so called in rememberance of Capt. Cook, who first supplied them with these kettles. An- other singular circumstance is this : large armies of mice are occasionally seen moving, and it is supposed that they migrate, but whither is not known. All the clothes of the Tchouktchi are embroidered with mouse skin. ** Captain Cochrane now prepared to return to the Kolyma. He took a grateful leave of his kind host, who was of the Yukagir nation, and had most hospitably entertained him. This old chief, like most other Asiatics, was a capital chess-player, while the Tchouktchi laughed at him for passing his time so idly. A light carriage and hungry dogs brought him, in two days, back to Nishnei Kolymsk, where he met Baron Wran- gel,whohad already returned from his expedition round Shelatskoy Ness." CHAPTER IV. " To take leave of Baron Wrangel, in whom he had found a friend and brother, was very melan- choly ; but Captain Cochrane was anxious to begin his travelling before the ice was likely to break up. At the latter end of March, therefore, he set out in a narte, drawn by thirteen dogs, ac- companied by a Commissary, Cossacks, and YakutK apt. Cook, ties. An- rge armies ig, and it ither is not uktchi are return to Eive of his lation, and m. This IS a capital ;hed at him ht carriage days, back ron Wran- expeditiou in whom he very melan- anxious to as likely to 1, therefore, jn dogs, ac- and Yakuti« SNOW-PIT. 293 He determined to travel to Okotsk, by the direct road, in opposition to the advice of every one at Nishnei, who warned him of the dangers he would certainly encounter. His dogs drew him eighty miles the first day, and he soon reached Sredne, where he was greeted affectionately by his old Cossack servant, Peter Trechekoff, in whose house he lodged. It was a pleasure to him to find, that the good character he had given this man had caused him to be made a Serjeant. '* He spent two days with his old friend, wait* ing for a new Cossack, who had been appointed to attend him ; but he, poor fellow, being newly mar- ried, did not like to go so far from home, and leave his young wife, just as th s busy fishing season was about to begin. He was obliged to submit^ however, with the promise of being allowed to re- turn direct to the Kolyma ; and he had the com- fort of knowing that his wife would be just as well provided with her store fish as if he were at home to catch for her. Such is the friendly custom of this poor place. " A fall into a snow-pit was their first adven- ture. Their horses scrambled up the sides of the pit and ran away, leaving them and the baggage to fare as Tell as they could. They walked on to the next yourte, which was about ten miles off, and despatclied people for their horses and baggage. 2c3 294 • YAKUTI SORCERER. ^^ '' While this was going on, a shamansy or sor* cerer, afforded abundant amusement to Captain Cochrane. A short coat, ornamented with little bits of iron, the size of penknife blades, with embroidered boots, cap, and gloves, consti- tuted his peculiar dress. He seated himself near the sick person, whom he was going to cure, smoked a pipe, then struck his tambourine, and sang a most melancholy song. Then he began to jump about; and he roared and screamed so hor- ribly, and made such dreadful faces, that he had every appearance of being a madman. He next drew his knife, and seemed to plunge it into his body, but no blood appeared. The fact is, the shamanes are enabled, from habit, to draw in thai part of the stomach, in which it appears as if the knife were entering. He then dismissed the party assembled to hear him cast the demon out of the sick man's body, and told them to come the next day, for that the evil one would not obey until a fat mare had been sacrificed to him." Uncle Richard. The blindness and weak- ness of the people in being deceived by such im- postors is most wonderful. Tom. These sorcerers are e>'en more impudent than your old friend, uncle ; for they profess not only to cure diseases, but to change the weather^ give SI r;cess in hunting, and find stolen tilings.. PARTRIDGE TRAPS. 295 " Vercliney Trolymsk, still on the river Ko- lyma, was the next vijiogo, and two hundred and fifty miles from Sredne : here, however, th« travellers allowed themselves only a day's rest, and again set forth over dreary and desolate wilds. After crossing a mountainous pass, the country on one side became more luxuriant, and our travel- lers were supplied with food in a manner quite original. The country was full of partridges and hares, and the wandering Yakuti had set up mul- titudes of traps for the benefit of travellers; this condition being understood, that they should set the trap in their turn. It consists of a log of wood, supported by a little wooden fork. The partridges touch this fork, and the log instantly falls and crushes them. *' When this charitable supply was at an end, the Cossack suffered much from hunger, not being able to partake of horses' flesh, and hi» guide being almost blind, their journey was noi a very merry one ; the snow was deep and sc4^, and the scene most dismal. Not a blade of grass or moss for the eye to rest upon. " The scenery became very magnificent as they approached the Lake Boulouktak ; but the poor home-sick Cossack became much worse; and, after staying to nurse him five days at a yourte. Captain Cochrane was forced to proceed without him, tak* ^1 "■• 296 PASSAGE OVER A FROZEN MOUNl. ing ia hb stead a Yakut, a stupid, gluttont . '^ L^y fellow, six feet high. With this sorry compttuion, he traversed the mountainous paths leading to the river Omekou, but they soon got bewildered ; and having ascended a steep and slippery rock, and slid down a precipice a hundred feet high, they would soon have been lost, if the sick Cossack had not reached them just at this time, and led them into the right path. " In this desolate place, however, they were obliged to pass the night, after supping upon horse- flesh ; but, when morning came, the grand puzzle was, how to ascend the mountain. It was so slippery, that the Cossack and himself were obliged to creep up the sides, cutting and hacking the ice with hatchets, to get some kind of footing. Then they made a long string of leathern thongs, and dragging up the baggage, let it down the opposite side. But how to get their horses up, they could not devise. The poor creatures, accustomed to all manner of dangerous travelling, were very tame and tractable, and with hard labour got to the middle of the ascent ; but they could get no far- ther, the fatigue was too great, and they were forced down again, and reached the bottom in a miserable state. The situation of the whole party was terrible ; they had been without fire, and the horses without food, for two days ; and the greedy \ ; _ TIMELY DISCIPLINE. 297 lOi ing to the red; and 'ock, and igh, they ssack had led them bey were >on horse- id puzzle [t was so •e obliged igthe ice g. Then >ngs, and i opposite hey could tomed to very tame ot to the et no far- hey were ttom in a lole party I, and the be greedy Yakut grumbled at his hard work and poor fare, not having been allowed more than twenty pounds of meat a day. » " As their luggage and bedding had been re- moved, they passed the night in a wretched state. The two next days, they succeeded in passing over the horses they wished to take with them; and, after killing one for food, they again started. But they had lost five fine travelling days ; and they paid dear for this unlucky accident. " The weather was now becoming mild and pleasant, and the country often abounded with game ; but the little rivers were breaking up, and they were frequently obliged to wade through them. Their Yakut giant, who thought only of eating, had become very careless and saucy, so that the Cossack was forced to bring him back to subjec- tion by a good flogging. They left him at last, and, travelling as fast as possible, soon came to the beautiful valley of the Omekon, whei^e a Yakut prince gave them half a reindeer, and, what was the greatest treat to Captain Cochrane, tea and milk. " Two or three of these princes accompanied him to the yourte of the Yakut Prince of Omekon, Peter Gotossop, where the hospitable reception he met with, and his bed of reindeer-skins, re- warded him for his sufferings and toils. 298 A T0NG0U8IAN PRINCE. ^ * ** The rich valley of the Omekon Is filled with cattle and horses, the latter of which are so much prized by the Yakuti, that they will not let them be loaded, scarcely ridden on ; in fact, they are almost kept for show. The beautiful scenery, the clean yourtes,with their hospitable inhabitants, the good fare, and happy look of this valley, might well have tempted our weary traveller to remain there ; and the natives united their warm persuasions to prevent him from continuing his perilous journey. ^< But he was resolute ; and he set out in search of the Tongousians, from whom he hoped to get a supply of reindeer. He fell in with them at last, and, sending a herald to their chief. Prince ShoumielofF, he was received by him in full state. His dress consisted of a black suit of velveteen, a cocked-hat, a sword, with medals in abundance hanging from his nec^:. These empty honours had been sent him in exchange for his property. For- merly he was rich, and called many thousands of reindeer his own; now he is poor, and has but a few hundred. He is obliged to live upon fish, which the Tjeindeer Tongousians consider a great hardship. >. " After much persuasion, and a few glasses of vodka, he agreed to provide Captain Cochrane with reindeer to take him to Okotsk, and he said he would accompany him himselfl .4.. ...- FORDING THE OKOTA. 299 '*' The reindeer are caught as the Mexicans catch their bullocks. A man, mounted on a well- trained reindeer, teb^^ in his hands a long line formed into a noose at the end ; and, galloping quickly past the wild reindeer, throws the noose over its horns, and thus secures him. ** With fifty fine reindeer, and the prince as his guide, they left the valley ; but the snow, rapidly melting, made the travelling so fatiguing, that many of the poor reindeer died of fatigue. The prince was very angry, and threatened to leave the party. The difficulty of passing the mountains in- creased ; more reindeer died, and the others were weak and exhausted. I:> ■•, after some few quar- rels with the prince, whc .:v.ompted to cheat him in no very princely manner, they all returned to the Omekon, and Captain Cochrane was obliged to procure horses to take him on towards Okotsk. " After a long and dangerous journey, they reached the ford over the Okota river. The stream was about twenty yards across; the horses and baggage passed in safety to the opposite shore ; and as they were puzzled how to get at a canoe which was fastened there, he fastened a rope round his body, swam over, and return- ed with it, to the great gratitude of his compa- nions. ** Hunger and fatigue were their portion for 30Q CONSTRUCTION AND WRECK OF A RAFT. many days: sometimes they had a partridge be- tween four ; at others, oilier a. few berrieik They set to work, and felled timber to .construct a raft, upon which th^y embarked with their baggage. " This raft; was so ..igenious, that it deserves notice. About ten logs of trees, fifteen feet long, .composed the body of it ; they wiere crossed by five others, and two to make a seat for the peil^n who took care of the baggage. The logs wer^ fastened together by leather thongs, and ap- peared strong enough to encounter a good thump. Other logs were made into oars to steer with, the Captain himself being steersman. They had some difficulty in hauling this i:aft into the middle of the stream, but when once there, it floated along so rapidly, that they were almost giddy as they passed the trees and rocks. No accident how- ever happened, and they were in hopes of getting to Okotsk to bre&kfast; when, lo ! on turning a corner, a lafge. tree growing oiit into the river, with its branches jutting in all directions, threatened them with certain wreck. The Cossack and Yakut crossed themselves. Captain Cochrane quietly watched. ;^ They struck ;- the raft re- bounded and was upset. • The two men, however, were able to keep hold of it, and it drifted them in safety down the stream to an island. Captain Cochrane clung to a branch of the tree, his body -fie [^ i il w ■l/'ril .i':' iSafi. by J.If.iirij.J.'liiiilj (liiiir/i Y.iid. -"t- ^.'v-'Jf'/ .. ■* ' /• \\ CRITICAL SITUATION. 801 under water, head and hands only above. He made an effort, and sprang upon the top of the tree ; but the branch broke, and he fell into the Water, and was likewise carried by the current to the island. << Here then they were all uafely landed, biit in a most terrible plight; sepahited by a rapid flood from the side of the river they were anxious to reach, without any means of reaching it.'* ' Uncle Richard. Necessity is the mother <>f invention; and sailors have always a thousand Ye^ sources, which you land-people, who live in quiet ease at. home, have no idea of. I have no dotibt but your traveller hit upon some very ingenious mode of extricating himself, Tom. . r^tM Tom* You shall hear. He first of all got some di/ dothesy and warmed hi|nself by ie'ieer- cise. Then, to save the baggage and raft was his next carey and in that he succeeded. Night Was approaching, and he felt sur^ that if they r' LOfJDON:, PftlNTKD BY COX AND BAYLIS, GREAT QUEEN STBEF.T. *'Jl*C-v- \ ;>T'J?'. 'j'J £F.T.