ok place, which, as it shows the disposition of the Esquimaux,
and especially of one of the most intelligent and interesting
among them, I may here relate. Some time before, Iligliuk, who,
from the superior neatness and cleanliness with which she
performed her work, was by this time in great request as a
seamstress, had promised to cover for me a little model of a
canoe, and had, in fact, sent it to me by the sergeant of marines,
though I had not rightly understood from the latter from which of
the women it came. Believing that she had failed in her promise, I
now taxed her with it, when she immediately defended herself with
considerable warmth and seriousness, but without making me
comprehend her meaning. Finding that she was wasting her words
upon me, she said no more till an hour afterward, when the
sergeant accidentally coming into the cabin, she, with the utmost
composure, but with a decision of manner peculiar to herself, took
hold of his arm to engage his attention, and then looking him
steadfastly in the face, accused him of not having faithfully
executed her commission to me. The mistake was thus instantly
explained, and I thanked Iligliuk for her canoe; but it is
impossible for me to describe the quiet, yet proud satisfaction
displayed in her countenance at having thus cleared herself from
the imputation of a breach of promise.

There being among the presents with which we were supplied a
number of pikes, we presented two or three of these from each ship
to the most deserving of the Esquimaux, to serve as staves for
their spears; and valuable ones they proved to them. Upon each
pike were marked, by small nails driven into the wood, the words
"Fury and Hecla, 1822."

Almost the whole of these people were now affected with violent
colds and coughs, occasioned by a considerable thawing that had
lately taken place in their huts, so as to wet their clothes and
bedding; though we had, as yet, experienced no great increase of
temperature. From the nature of their habitations, however, their
comfort was greater, and their chance of health better, when the
cold was more severe. On this account, they began to make fresh
alterations in these curious dwelling-places, either by building
the former apartments two or three feet higher, or adding others,
that they might be less crowded. In building a higher hut, they
constructed it over, and, as it were, concentric with the old one,
which is then removed from within. It i