a vice which they are sometimes
guilty of at the Factory. I found that they believed in a future state;
and acknowledged that there was a bad Spirit, who made them suffer, and
to whom they prayed that he would not hurt them. They thought that when
a bad man died, the bad Spirit took him, and put him in a hole under
ground, where there was always fire, but this idea they might have got
from their intercourse with Europeans at the Fort: and when a good man
died, they believed that the moon took him up, where he lived as he had
done below, only that he had always plenty to enjoy, and less paddling
to do. In parting with these Indians, as with the others who returned
to Chesterfield Inlet, I gave to each individual a clasp knife, some
tobacco, and a few beads to take to their wives; and my prayer to God
was, that some effectual step might be taken to communicate to these
heathen, that knowledge which they appeared desirous of receiving, and
which would ameliorate their condition through a scriptural hope of a
future life.

We returned to the Factory, along a coast the most dangerous to
navigate that can possibly be conceived, from fragments of rocks being
studded in the water for miles from the shore, and which are only
visible at the reflux of the tide. The safest course to take is to run
out to sea, and sail along out of sight of land; but this is hazardous
in an open boat, if the weather be stormy, or the water is much ruffled
by the wind. The Company lost a boat's crew last fall, as they were
returning to Churchill, from one of the points of rock where they had
been to collect geese, which the Indians had shot, and which are salted
as part of the winter supply of provisions at the Establishment. At
first it was supposed that the boat had been driven out to sea, and all
had perished in a most painful manner; but during our stay, an Indian
came to the Fort, to inform the officer that the empty boat was lying
on the beach, about six or seven miles to the south of Churchill River.
He immediately sent men to the spot, and to search along the coast for
some remains at least of the bodies of the crew, but not the least
appearance of them could be found. The boat filled and went down, with
the sail set and fastened to the mast, which was the state in which it
was found; but whether she struck upon the point of a sunken rock, or
swamped at the conflux of the waters off the mouth of the river at the
return of the tide, not a man