by this
unexpected encounter. Ewerat being now mounted on the plank which goes
across the gunwales of our ships for conning them conveniently among the
ice, explained, in a very clear and pilot-like manner, that the island
which we observed to lie off Cape Wilson was that marked by Iligliuk in
one of her charts, and there called _Awlikteewik_, pronounced by Ewerat
_Ow-l=itt~ee-week_. On asking how many days' journey it was still to
Amitioke, they all agreed in saying ten; and back to Winter Island
_oon=o=oktoot_ (a great many), so that we had good reason to hope we
were not far from the former place. I may at once remark, however, that
great caution is requisite in judging of the information these people
give of the distances from one place to another, as expressed by the
number of _se=eniks_ (sleeps) or days' journeys, to which, in other
countries, a definite value is affixed. No two Esquimaux will give the
same account in this respect, though each is equally desirous of
furnishing correct information; for, besides their deficiency as
arithmeticians, which renders the enumeration of ten a labour, and of
fifteen almost an impossibility to many of them, each individual forms
his idea of the distance according to the season of the year, and,
consequently, the mode of travelling in which his own journey has been
performed. Instances of this kind will be observed in the charts of the
Esquimaux, in which they not only differ from each other in this
respect, but the same individual differs from himself at different
times. It is only, therefore, by a careful comparison of the various
accounts, and by making allowances for the different circumstances under
which the journeys have been made, that these apparent inconsistencies
can be reconciled, and an approximation to the truth obtained.

Many of our officers and men cordially greeted these poor people as old
acquaintances they were glad to see again, and they were loaded, as
usual, with numerous presents, of which the only danger to be
apprehended was lest they should go mad on account of them. The women
screamed in a convulsive manner at everything they received, and cried
for five minutes together with the excess of their joy; and to the
honour of "John Bull" be it recorded, he sent by one of the men as he
left the ship a piece of sealskin, as a present to _Parree_, being the
first offering of real gratitude, and without any expectation of return,
that I had ever received f