The lookout from the mast-head saw some boats coming from the
main-land, and presently three kyacks, an omien, and two whale-boats
came alongside, bringing about fifty people, including men, women,
and children. Among them were Armow and his two half-brothers, Ik-omer
(Fire) and Too-goo-lan. "Papa" was there also, and he, too, is one of
the few savages that are thoroughly reliable in every respect. He was
one of Captain Hall's party when he visited King William Land in 1868.
All these people seemed very friendly toward us, and upon a
consultation over the charts we decided to go on to the main-land, near
Depot Island, to spend the winter. We learned with deep regret that one
of the Natchillis, who was said to have spoken to Captain Barry about
the existence of books among the Franklin relics, had since died, and
that nobody knew what had become of the other. We determined to make
every effort to find the latter, for should he know where the books
were hidden, and be willing to conduct us there, our labor would have
been materially lessened. But in any case, whether we found him or not,
we had great faith that, by staying at least one season on King William
Land, when the snow was off the ground, we should be able to find the
records, and complete the history of Sir John Franklin's last
expedition.
[Map: LIEUT. SCHWATKA'S EXPED. to KING WILLIAM LAND to
Discover the Remains of the FRANKLIN EXPEDITION.]
CHAPTER II.
THE WINTER CAMP.
[Illustration: CAMP DALY IN SUMMER.]
Meanwhile we had need of patience. Our camp, which was in latitude 63
deg. 51 min. north and 90 deg. 26 min. 15 sec. west of Greenwich, had
been named by Lieutenant Schwatka after the president of the American
Geographical Society. The tents that had been provided for the
expedition proving quite inadequate for our wants, Captain Barry got
Armow (the Wolf), one of the most influential natives, to let us have
his tent, one that had been made by the crew of the brig 'A.
Houghton', memorable to us as the vessel on which Captain Barry
received his spoon. The Iwillie tribe moved up their tupics to the land
nearest Depot Island, so as to be near us; but finding they were a
considerable distance from any fresh water, moved again to the spot
where our stores were landed. We had bidden adieu to the officers and
crew of the 'Eothen', and had been rowed ashore by the Inuits. The
solitude of our first day on land was enlivened by the visit of a
ponderous young Natchilli, named Joe (or Natchilli Joe, to distinguish
him from Esquimau Joe). He promised to accompany us in the spring. He
was a fine-looking young man, with a big head, and a shock of
raven-black hair, as massive-looking as a lion, and with none of the
bloodthirsty look which I had been led to expect in the Natchilli
features. He had been living with the Iwillie tribe for about two
years, and they all liked him very much. We felt that it would tend to
assure our favorable reception by his tribe to have one or two of their
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account