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a Guernsey-frock, and other things, some of which he offered
for the knife.
“ ‘ About midnight it rained very hard, and the inside of the
wigwam became soaked with wet; so they all roused up, and
made a large fire; then ate some blubber, and drank some
more water. They always carried a firebrand with them when
they went out in the dark to get water, or for any thing else
they might want. When they had well warmed themselves they
lay down again. The young man lay close to us, and, when
he supposed we were asleep, began to search the man who had
the knife, but we kept watch and he could not get it. About
two hours afterwards he made up the fire, and went out, as we
thought, for firewood : but for no other purpose than to take
away bushes from the side of the wigwam, that he might have
a clear passage for what he intended to do. Beturning, he took
up a piece of blubber, and asked for the knife to cut it. As
soon as he had cut a slice, and put it on the fire, he darted
through the part of the wigwam, which he had weakened,
like an arrow. The other man seemed to he very much vexed,
and thinking, perhaps, that we should do some mischief in
consequence of the loss of the knife, watched an opportunity,
when he thought we were asleep, to take out all the children,
and leave us quite by ourselves. About two hours after, he
returned, and pulling down dry branches, from the inside of
the wigwam, made up a large fire. We had no doubt that the
younger man was at hand watching us, and just at daybreak,
as we were preparing to start, he jumped into the wigwam with
his face streaked almost all over with black, and pretended to
be quite a stranger. When we asked for the knife, he would
not know what we meant, but took up one of our shoes that
lay on the ground, and gave it to us. The band of grass was
taken off his head, and his hair was quite loose. There were
neither skins, spears, nor arrows in the wigwam, but no doubt
they were in the hushes; for when we threatened to take the
canoe he jumped into the wood, resting on one knee, with his
right hand on the ground, and eyed us sharply till we were
out of sight,’
“ The Other family seen in the Mesier Channel we did not
communicate with, and it may be remarked that in this passage,
although between four and five hundred miles in extent, we
did not meet twenty human beings; a strong evidence that
these regions are very thinly inhabited, particularly when it is
considered that we made no rapid progress, and that our boats
traversed, through different channels, at least twice the distance
run by the vessel.’’
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