The “Rescue” having rejoined her consort, the “George Henry,” from whom she had been separated on the voyage, the captain proposed to set sail for his proposed whaling-ground on the west side of Davis’s Strait. They sailed on the 24th of July, Hall accompanying. Three days after, they encountered a violent snow-storm, and were beset by icebergs. On the 8th of August they anchored in a bay in latitude 63° 20´, called by the natives Ookoolear, but by Hall named Cornelius Grinnell Bay. Here and hereabouts the whalers went to work, and Hall began his acquaintance with the Esquimaux at home.
134. WOMAN AND CHILD. (Drawn and Engraved by AN INNUIT.)
135. FESTIVAL OF THE BIRTHDAY OF THE KING OF DENMARK.
Among these was Kookerjabin, the widow of Kudlago, and of three others. “The Innuits,” writes Hall, “are a happy people. As they crowded our decks, I one day noticed about a dozen women seated, and busily engaged at their work. Two were mending one of the boat’s sails, some were chewing seal-skins for boot-soles, others were sewing, while one was tending a cross baby. It is rare to find an Innuit child who is not very quiet, but this little fellow had eaten a piece of raw blubber, which had disordered him. Some of the amusing tricks played by these Esquimaux women are especially deserving of notice. The variety of games performed by a string tied at the ends, similar to a ‘cat’s cradle,’ completely throws into the shade our adepts at home. I never before witnessed such a number of intricate ways in which a simple string could be used. One arrangement represented a deer; another, a whale; a third, the walrus; a fourth, the seal; and so on without end.”
136. PREPARING BOOT-SOLES.
The short Arctic summer soon came to a close. On the morning of the 26th of September came light winds from the north-west; by noon it began to snow, the wind increasing to a gale. The whaling-boats all came in, and preparations were made for bad weather. During the night the storm grew hourly fiercer. The “Rescue” dragged her anchor, and was dashed upon the rocks an utter wreck. Hall’s little boat, upon which he had so much relied, was torn from its moorings and lost, “dooming me,” says Hall, “to a wreck of disappointment in the hopes I had cherished concerning her. The ‘George Henry’ was also in imminent peril, but outrode the tempest; but on her next voyage, eighteen months later, was lost at a point hardly a hundred miles distant.”
The “George Henry” was soon after laid up in winter-quarters, fairly blocked in by ice. Hall in the mean time had made himself acquainted with the Esquimaux of the region. Prominent among these were a couple—husband and wife—whose history is worthy of record.