d on this service, who had extremely quick
sight, and were accustomed to act as scouts, an office which requires
equal caution and circumspection. A strong objection, however, lay
against this plan, in the probability of their being discovered by a
straggling hunter, which would be destructive to every hope of
accommodation. It was therefore determined to send Augustus and Junius,
who were very desirous to undertake the service. These adventurous men
proposed to go armed only with pistols concealed in their dress, and
furnished with beads, looking-glasses, and other articles, that they
might conciliate their countrymen by presents. We could not divest our
minds of the apprehension, that it might be a service of much hazard, if
the Esquimaux were as hostile to strangers as the Copper Indians have
invariably represented them to be; and we felt great reluctance in
exposing our two little interpreters, who had rendered themselves dear
to the whole party, to the most distant chance of receiving injury; but
this course of proceeding appeared in their opinion and our own to offer
the only chance of gaining an interview. Though not insensible to the
danger, they cheerfully prepared for their mission, and clothed
themselves in Esquimaux dresses, which had been made for the purpose at
Fort Enterprise. Augustus was desired to make his presents, and to tell
the Esquimaux that the white men had come to make peace between them and
all their enemies, and also to discover a passage by which every article
of which they stood in need might be brought in large ships. He was not
to mention that we were accompanied by the Indians, but to endeavour to
prevail on some of the Esquimaux to return with him. He was directed to
come back immediately if there were no lodges at the rapid.

The Indians were not suffered to move out of our sight, but in the
evening we permitted two of them to cross the river in pursuit of a
musk-ox, which they killed on the beach, and returned immediately. The
officers, prompted by an anxious solicitude for Augustus and Junius,
crawled up frequently to the summit of the mountain to watch their
return. The view, however, was not extensive, being bounded at the
distance of eight miles by a range of hills similar to the Copper
Mountains, but not so lofty. The night came without bringing any
intelligence of our messengers, and our fears for their safety increased
with the length of their absence.

As every one had been i