Shortly after these men had arrived, a large oomiak, or woman's boat, made its appearance, containing six or seven females and four men, the oldest of the latter, as is usual among them, steering the boat with a rude oar of wood. The women could not be induced to land upon the floe, but held up skins and small narrow strips of well-tanned leather to exchange, loudly vociferating pilletay (give me) the whole time. There were in this boat several skins of oil and blubber, which I tried hard to purchase, but nothing could induce the old man to part with more than one skin of it; for what reason I could not tell, except that he hoped, by perseverance, to obtain a higher price. On my desiring our men to hand out a second skin of oil, as an equivalent for which I put into the old man's hand a second knife, he resisted most vehemently, pushing our men aside in the boat with a violence I have never seen the Esquimaux use on any other occasion. One of the younger men then came forward, and was lifting up the stretcher of their boat to strike our people, who were good-humouredly laughing at the old man's violence, when I thought it high time to interpose, and, raising a boat-hook over the head of the Esquimaux, as if about to strike them, soon brought them into a cooler mood; after which, to prevent farther altercation, I ordered our people out of the boat. We had by this time succeeded in purchasing all the oil brought by the first canoes; and as the old fellow, who was commanding officer of the oomiak, obstinately persisted in his refusal to sell his, I ordered him away, when he immediately rowed to the Hecla, and, as I was afterward informed by Captain Lyon, sold his oil for less than he might have obtained at first. Four other oomiaks afterward came from the shore, from which we were distant five or six miles. Each of these contained from fourteen to twenty-six persons, the majority being females and young children. Upon the whole, not less than one hundred of the natives visited the ships in the course of the evening.
These people possessed in an eminent degree the disposition to steal all they could lay their hands on, which has almost universally been imputed to every tribe of Esquimaux hitherto visited by Europeans. They tried more than once the art of picking our pockets, and were as bold and unembarrassed as ever immediately after detection. It is impossible to describe the horribly disgusting manner in which they sat down, as soon as they felt hungry, to eat their raw blubber, and to suck the oil remaining on the skins we had just emptied, the very smell of which, as well as the appearance, was to us almost insufferable. The disgust which our seaman could not help expressing at this sight seemed to create in the Esquimaux the most malicious amusement; and when our people turned away, literally unable to bear the sight without being sick, they would, as a good joke among themselves, run after them, holding out a piece of blubber or raw seal's flesh dripping with oil and filth, as if inviting them to partake of it. Both the men and women were guilty of still more disgusting indecencies, which seemed to afford them amazing diversion. A worse trait even than all these was displayed by two women alongside the Hecla, who, in a manner too unequivocal to be misunderstood, offered to barter their children for some article of trifling value, beginning very deliberately to strip them of their clothes, which they did not choose to consider as included in the intended bargain.
Upon the whole, it was impossible for us not to receive a very unfavourable impression of the general behaviour and moral character of the natives of this part of Hudson's Strait, who seem to have acquired, by an annual intercourse with our ships for nearly a hundred years, many of the vices which unhappily attend a first intercourse with the civilized world, without having imbibed any of the virtues or refinements which adorn and render it happy.
Early on the morning of the 22d a number of canoes repeated their visit to us, the Esquimaux having hauled them upon a piece of ice to lodge for the night. In the forenoon an oomiak also came from the shore, and as no intercourse with them was permitted till after divine service, they became very impatient to barter their commodities, and walked on the ice alongside the ships, with a number of trifling things in their hands, vociferating "pilletay" to such a degree that we could hardly hear ourselves speak. Some more oil was obtained in exchange for pieces of iron hoop, and, at a quarter before noon, the wind coming more to the southward, and the ice being somewhat less close than before, we cast off and made sail up the strait.
The wind and ice combined to favour us more and more as we proceeded, the former both in strength and direction, and the latter by opening into loose streams, so that, for the first time since we entered Hudson's Strait, we were now enabled to set all the studding-sails, with some prospect of deriving advantage from them. The Hudson's Bay ships remained at anchor some time after we made sail, and in the course of the evening we finally lost sight of them. From this circumstance, as well as from the unimpeded progress we had just begun to make to the westward, it was now only that we considered our voyage as having fairly commenced.
We continued, on the first of August, to beat to the westward, between Nottingham Island and the North Shore, the distance between which is about four leagues, and the latter fringed with numerous islands. In the course of the morning, several canoes and one oomiak came off from the mainland, containing about twenty persons, more than half of whom were women and children. They brought a little oil, some skin dresses, and tusks of the walrus, which they were willing to exchange for any trifle we chose to give them. They had also a number of toys of various kinds, such as canoes with their paddles, spears, and bows and arrows, all on a very large scale. Many of the jackets of these people, and particularly those of the females, were lined with the skins of birds, having the feathers inside; and they had also in the boat several other skins in a prepared state, taken from the throat of the colymbus glacialis, which splendid bird, though we had twice found its skin in possession of the Esquimaux, we had yet not met with ourselves.
The expedition being now about to enter upon ground not hitherto explored, it became necessary for me to decide upon the route it would be most advantageous to pursue for the accomplishment of the principal objects pointed out in my instructions.
CHAPTER II.
Review of the Geographical Information obtained by the Researches
of former Navigators on the Coast of the American Continent, in
the Neighbourhood of Wager River.—Discover and enter the Duke of
York's Bay, supposing it to be a Passage into the Sea called the
Welcome.—Leave the Duke of York's Bay, and proceed to the
Northwestward.—Passage of the Frozen Strait and Arrival in
Repulse Bay.—Continuity of Land there.—Observations on
Shore.—Remarks concerning the Geography, Tides, and Natural
History of this Part of the Continental Coast.
After the most anxious consideration, I came to the resolution of attempting the direct passage of the Frozen Strait; though, I confess, not without some apprehension of the risk I was incurring, and of the serious loss of time which, in case of failure either from the non-existence of the strait or from the insuperable obstacles which its name implies, would thus be inevitably occasioned to the expedition.