“I had prepared another treat for them, which I am quite sure was to many the most agreeable of the two. My coxswain came in to tell me when all was ready, and then I begged the governor would tell the party to go outside where I had something to show them.
“When all were assembled, the booming of one of our guns, which by signal was fired from the vessel, not a little alarmed some of the most timid, and their fear was not much allayed, when, from under their very noses, a shower of rockets flew into mid-air, with a whirl that startled some of the more ancient sages amongst them, though when no damage was found to accrue to any of the party, the shouts of joy overpowered the noise of the rockets. The blue lights and white lights, which were burnt to enliven the performance, were objects of great curiosity, and I could see some enquiring faces, eagerly watching our movements, as the port-fires were placed to ignite them.”
“Dancing was afterwards commenced,” continues Captain Inglefield, “and feeling that it was my duty to lead off with the governor’s wife, who was an Eskimo, I begged the honour of her hand, for a dance, in the best Eskimo of which I was master, and to the scraping of a disabled fiddle bound round with twine and splints, I launched into the mysteries of an Eskimo quadrille, which, but for the strenuous exertions of my partner, to keep me right, I should certainly have set into utter confusion.
“It was composed of a chaine des dames and a reel, complex to a wonderful degree, and exhausting to a frightful extent; and yet it appeared to be the determination of the whole party to continue at this one figure till tired nature sunk.
“Unaccustomed to this kind of violent exercise, I was soon knocked up, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to make my escape; but at last I had the gratification of observing an elderly lady opposite beginning to falter, and out of compliment to her I presume this dance was terminated.
“The Eskimos seem to think it is impossible to be too warm, so the doors and windows were tightly closed, and certain lamps and tallow candles (with which I had supplied his Excellency) soon brought the temperature up to blood heat.
“After resting from my labour, I determined to try their waltz, which I found was not very unlike ours, being performed somewhat in the same manner, and the fair ladies with whom I now alternately figured instructing me in the mysteries of the measure. Some of my sailors having obtained permission to attend the ball, they were now solicited to give a specimen of their skill, and accordingly a sailor’s hornpipe and reel, with the usual heel and toe accompaniment, met with great applause. I had had sufficient fun by nine o’clock, but the party did not break up till after twelve; before I went away, however, at my special request, some Eskimo melodies were sung by the party, and afterwards a Danish national hymn by the governor. When the officers and men were returning in their boat to the ship they were serenaded by the ladies of the party, who joining hand-in-hand walked along the rocks towards the ship, singing a plaintive air, which might well have been taken for their evening hymn. And such it may have been, for these poor people, semi-civilized and instructed as they have been by the Danes, are full of fervour and zeal for their religion, the Lutheran, and show more real moral principle than any nation I ever visited.”
By the 7th of October the Isabel was ready for sea, but encountered terrific gales. Upon the advice of the ice-masters, Captain Inglefield determined to return to England in spite of a strong desire to winter and complete the search of the west coast of Baffin Bay by sledge journeys in the spring and the survey of Davis Strait from Cape Walsingham south, as far as Newfoundland. However, a continuance of bad weather made such a course impracticable, and by November 4 the Isabel anchored at Stromness; by the 10th of November she made Peterhead by way of Pentland Firth.
