Some books and prints were placed in
the hands of the youth, and he expressed the greatest delight in
seeing views of ships in the ice, and the figure of an Esquimaux
watching for a seal. After gazing for a few moments at the latter, he
uttered a cry of pleasure, and said, "This one of my people!" It
seemed as if, for the time, he had been carried back to his own land,
which, however homely, was once his home. Had any proof been wanting
of the faithfulness of the representation, his hearty and joyous
approval of it would have afforded sufficient evidence of its
accuracy.

The reader shall see the engraving of the lonely seal-hunter which so
much pleased poor Kalli.

Seal Hunter

[Illustration: Seal Hunter]

In this situation, we are told, a man will sit quietly for ten or
twelve hours together, at a temperature of thirty or forty degrees
below zero, watching for the opportunity of killing and taking the
seal, which is supposed to be at work making its hole beneath in the
ice. The Esquimaux, partly sheltered from the "winter's wind," and
fast-falling snow, by a snow-wall, has got his spear and lines ready,
and he has tied his knees together, to prevent his disturbing the seal
by making the slightest noise.

Sights in England

Kalli, whilst in London, on a visit to the author, was taken to the
British Museum. With some of the objects there he was much gratified.
The antiquities, sculpture, and specimens of art and science, had not
such charms in his sight as had the life-like forms of stuffed animals
in that great national collection. With the seals, reindeer, and a
gigantic walrus, with bright glass eyes, he was especially struck and
amused, lingering for some time in the attractive apartment which
contained them.

He had now and then much to bear from rudeness and incivility on the
part of some thoughtless persons, who derided his personal appearance,
though they were not successful in putting him out of temper. The
author recollects an instance of this in a street in London. He was
walking with Kalli, when two young men, who ought to have known
better, stared at the youth in passing, and laughed in his face: then
presently turning round, they said, as they pointed at him, "There
goes a Chinese!" He merely looked up, smiling, as if at their
ignorance, and want of proper feeling.

It has been observed of the people of his nation, that they evince
little or no surprise or excitement at such th