The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851Various
History
The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851
Various
Art, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- History -- Periodicals
A strait, called Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome, leads due north out of
Hudson Bay, being parted by Southampton Island from the strait through
which we entered. Its name is quaint, for so was its discoverer, Luke
Fox, a worthy man, addicted much to euphuism. Fox sailed from London
in the same year in which James sailed from Bristol. They were rivals.
Meeting in Davis Straits, Fox dined on board his friendly rival's
vessel, which was very unfit for the service upon which it went. The
sea washed over them and came into the cabin, so says Fox, "sauce
would not have been wanted if there had been roast mutton." Luke Fox
being ice-bound and in peril, writes, "God thinks upon our
imprisonment with a _supersedeas_;" but he was a good and honorable
man as well as euphuist. His "Sir Thomas Rowe's Welcome," leads into
Fox Channel; our "Phantom Ship" is pushing through the welcome passes
on the left-hand Repulse Bay. This portion of the Arctic regions, with
Fox Channel, is extremely perilous. Here Captain Lyon, in the
"Griper," was thrown anchorless upon the mercy of a stormy sea, ice
crashing around him. One island in Fox Channel is called Mill Island,
from the incessant grinding of great masses of ice collected there. In
the northern part of Fox Channel, on the western shore, is Melville
Peninsula, where Parry wintered on his second voyage. Here let us go
ashore and see a little colony of Esquimaux.
Their huts are built of blocks of snow, and arched, having an ice pane
for a window. They construct their arched entrance and their
hemispherical roof, on the true principles of architecture. Those wise
men, the Egyptians, made their arch by hewing the stones out of shape,
the Esquimaux have the true secret. Here they are, with little food in
winter and great appetites; devouring a whole walrus when they get it,
and taking the chance of hunger for the next eight days--hungry or
full, for ever happy in their lot--here are the Esquimaux. They are
warmly clothed, each in a double suit of skins sewn neatly together.
Some are singing, with good voices, too. Please them, and they
straightway dance; activity is good in a cold climate. Play to them on
the flute, or if you can sing well, sing, or turn a barrel-organ, they
are mute, eager with wonder and delight; their love of music is
intense. Give them a pencil, and, like children, they will draw. Teach
them, and they will learn, oblige them, and they will be grateful.
"Gentle and loving savages," one of our old worthies called them, and
the Portuguese were so much impressed with their teachable and gentle
conduct, that a Venetian ambassador writes, "His serene majesty
contemplates deriving great advantage from the country, not only on
account of the timber, of which he has occasion, but of the
inhabitants, who are admirably calculated for labor, and are the best
I have ever seen." The Esquimaux, of course, will learn vice, and in
the region visited by whale ships, vice enough has certainly been
taught him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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