aptain Parry;
and to conjecture that the ice had been a barrier to his progress in
search of a North-West Passage, and that he was returning down the Bay
to England. The object of the Esquimaux in meeting from different
tribes at Chesterfield Inlet every year, is to barter with those
principally who trade at Churchill Factory, and also with some Northern
Indians, who exchange what European articles they may have for
fish-hooks made of bone, and sinew lines, and skins. I then shook hands
with them, and gave to each individual a clasp-knife, some tobacco, and
a few beads, to take with them to their wives, with which they were
much pleased, telling me, not to be afraid to come to their country, as
Esquimaux would treat me well.

AUGUST 7.--When the remaining party returned to Knapp's Bay, it was
proposed by the Master of the Company's Posts, that they should stop
for a few days at Seal River, about fifty miles north of Churchill, and
spear white whales for the blubber. This they readily assented to, and
the day after they started, I accompanied the officer in a boat to the
point where they were to be employed. We pitched our tents near the
place where they rested at night, and were much amused at their
dexterity in spearing a number of whales on the following day. In the
course of two days they harpooned about forty, so numerous were these
animals in the Bay at the mouth of the river. These Esquimaux were not
unacquainted with habits of cleanliness, for they were no sooner ashore
from spearing whales, than they changed their dirty skin dress for one
of a newer and cleaner character; and in seating themselves in a
circle, around a small fire they had made, I observed that while they
boiled the skin of the whale, and some partook of it, others were
eating the tail and the fin in a raw state. I never knew natives more
orderly and less troublesome; we were in their power, but so far from
annoying us, they never even came to our tents, importuning for tobacco
and other articles, as is generally the case with Indians when near
their own encampment.

Wishing to talk with them again on the subject of teaching their
children, I invited to my tent seven of the oldest men among them; and
repeated to them the questions which I had put to the whole of them
before. They expressed the same feelings in favour of instruction, and
a hope that I was not afraid to come to their country, promising, when
white man came, not to steal from him,