After this conversation Terregannœuck proposed going down to his baggage, and we then perceived he was too infirm to walk without the assistance of sticks. Augustus therefore offered him his arm which he readily accepted and, on reaching his store, he distributed pieces of dried meat to each person which, though highly tainted, were immediately eaten, this being a universal token among the Indians of peaceable intention.
We then informed him of our desire to procure as much meat as we possibly could and he told us that he had a large quantity concealed in the neighbourhood which he would cause to be carried to us when his people returned.
I now communicated to him that we were accompanied by some Copper Indians who were very desirous to make peace with his nation, and that they had requested me to prevail upon the Esquimaux to receive them in a friendly manner, to which he replied he should rejoice to see an end put to the hostility that existed between the nations and therefore would most gladly welcome our companions. Having despatched Adam to inform Akaitcho of this circumstance we left Terregannœuck, in the hope that his party would rejoin him but, as we had doubts whether the young men would venture upon coming to our tents on the old man’s bare representation, we sent Augustus and Junius back in the evening to remain with him until they came, that they might fully detail our intentions.
The countenance of Terregannœuck was oval with a sufficiently prominent nose and had nothing very different from a European face, except in the smallness of his eyes and perhaps in the narrowness of his forehead. His complexion was very fresh and red and he had a longer beard than I had seen on any of the aboriginal inhabitants of America. It was between two and three inches long and perfectly white. His face was not tattooed. His dress consisted of a shirt, or jacket with a hood, wide breeches reaching only to the knee, and tight leggings sewed to the shoes, all of deer skins. The soles of the shoes were made of seal-skin and stuffed with feathers instead of socks. He was bent with age but appeared to be about five feet ten inches high. His hands and feet were small in proportion to his height. Whenever Terregannœuck received a present he placed each article first on his right shoulder then on his left, and when he wished to express still higher satisfaction he rubbed it over his head. He held hatchets and other iron instruments in the highest esteem. On seeing his countenance in a glass for the first time he exclaimed, “I shall never kill deer more,” and immediately put the mirror down. The tribe to which he belongs repair to the sea in spring and kill seals; as the season advances they hunt deer and musk-oxen at some distance from the coast. Their weapon is the bow and arrow and they get sufficiently nigh the deer, either by crawling or by leading these animals by ranges of turf towards a spot where the archer can conceal himself. Their bows are formed of three pieces of fir, the centrepiece alone bent, the other two lying in the same straight line with the bowstring; the pieces are neatly tied together with sinew. Their canoes are similar to those we saw in Hudson’s Straits but smaller. They get fish constantly in the rivers and in the sea as soon as the ice breaks up. This tribe do not make use of nets but are tolerably successful with the hook and line. Their cooking utensils are made of pot-stone, and they form very neat dishes of fir, the sides being made of thin deal, bent into an oval form, secured at the ends by sewing, and fitted so nicely to the bottom as to be perfectly water-tight. They have also large spoons made of the horns of the musk-oxen.
Akaitcho and the Indians arrived at our tents in the evening and we learned that they had seen the Esquimaux the day before and endeavoured without success to open a communication with them. They exhibited no hostile intention but were afraid to advance. Akaitcho, keeping out of their sight, followed at a distance, expecting that, ultimately finding themselves enclosed between our party and his, they would be compelled to come to a parley with one of us. Akaitcho had seen Terregannœuck soon after our departure; he was much terrified and thrust his spear at him as he had done at Augustus, but was soon reconciled after the demonstrations of kindness the Indians made in cutting off the buttons from their dress to present to him.
July 17.
We waited all this forenoon in momentary expectation of the return of Augustus and Junius but as they did not appear at two P.M. I sent Mr. Hood with a party of men to inquire into the cause of their detention and to bring the meat which Terregannœuck had promised us. He returned at midnight with the information that none of the Esquimaux had yet ventured to come near Terregannœuck except his aged wife, who had concealed herself amongst the rocks at our first interview, and she told him the rest of the party had gone to a river a short distance to the westward where there was another party of Esquimaux fishing. Augustus and Junius had erected the tent and done everything in their power to make the old man comfortable in their absence. Terregannœuck, being unable to walk to the place where the meat was concealed, readily pointed the spot out to Mr. Hood who went thither but, after experiencing much difficulty in getting at the column of rock on which it was deposited, he found it too putrid for our use. The features of Terregannœuck’s wife were remarkable for roundness and flatness; her face was much tattooed and her dress differed little from the old man’s.
In the afternoon a party of nine Esquimaux appeared on the east bank of the river about a mile below our encampment, carrying their canoes and baggage on their backs, but they turned and fled as soon as they perceived our tents. The appearance of so many different bands of Esquimaux terrified the Indians so much that they determined on leaving us the next day lest they should be surrounded and their retreat cut off. I endeavoured, by the offer of any remuneration they would choose, to prevail upon one or two of the hunters to proceed but in vain; and I had much difficulty even in obtaining their promise to wait at the Copper Mountains for Mr. Wentzel and the four men, whom I intended to discharge at the sea.
The fears which our interpreters, St. Germain and Adam, entertained respecting the voyage were now greatly increased and both of them came this evening to request their discharge, urging that their services could be no longer requisite as the Indians were going from us. St. Germain even said that he had understood he was only engaged to accompany us as long as the Indians did, and persisted in this falsehood until his agreement to go with us throughout the voyage had been twice read to him. As these were the only two of the party on whose skill in hunting we could rely I was unable to listen for a moment to their desire of quitting us and, lest they should leave us by stealth, their motions were strictly watched. This was not an unnecessary precaution as I was informed that they had actually laid a plan for eloping; but the rest of the men, knowing that their own safety would have been compromised had they succeeded, kept a watchful eye over them. We knew that the dread of the Esquimaux would prevent these men from leaving us as soon as the Indians were at a distance, and we trusted to their becoming reconciled to the journey when once the novelty of a sea voyage had worn off.