Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1Parry, William Edward, Sir
History
Three Voyages for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and Narrative of an Attempt to Reach the North Pole, Volume 1
Parry, William Edward, Sir
Arctic regions; Northwest Passage; Parry, William Edward, Sir, 1790-1855
A wolf being caught in one of the traps this evening, which was so
close as to be easily watched from the ship, a party of the
officers ran out to secure the depredator, and fired two balls
into the trap at once to despatch him. Finding, after this, that
he continued to bite a sword that was thrust in, a third shot was
fired at him. The trap was then sufficiently opened to get his
hind legs firmly tied together, after which, being considered
tolerably secure, he was pulled out of the trap, which, however,
his head had scarcely cleared, when he furiously flew at Mr.
Richards's throat, and would certainly have done him some serious
mischief had not that gentleman, with great presence of mind,
seized the animal in his turn by the throat, squeezing him with
all his force between both hands. This made the wolf relinquish
his first attempt, and Mr. Richards only suffered by a bite in his
arm and another in his knee, which, on account of the thickness of
his clothes, were happily not severe ones. As for the wolf, he
prudently took to his heels, though two of them were still tied
together; and, being favoured by the momentary confusion,
occasioned by his late rencounter with Mr. Richards, succeeded in
escaping his pursuers. He was found dead the following day at the
distance of three quarters of a mile from the ships.
On the 8th we were visited by a musical party of females,
consisting only of a few individuals expressly invited for this
purpose. A number of the officers assembled in the cabin to hear
this vocal concert, while Mr. Henderson and myself took down the
notes of their songs, for which, indeed, they gave us every
opportunity, for I thought they would never leave off. We
afterward amused them with our little band of flutes and violins,
and also by some songs, with the whole of which they were
extremely well pleased. I feared several of them, and especially
Iligliuk, would go into fits with delight when we introduced into
our song some of their names mingled with our own. While most of
us were thus employed, Captain Lyon took the opportunity of making
drawings of some of the women, especially of _Togolat_, the
prettiest of the party, and, perhaps, of the whole village. She
was about six-and-twenty years of age, with a face more oval than
that of Esquimaux in general, very pretty eyes and mouth, teeth
remarkably white and regular, and possessing in her carriage and
manners a degree of natural gracefulness, which could not be hid
even under the disguise of an Esquimaux woman's dress, and, as was
usual with Togolat, the dirtiest face of her whole tribe. Her
husband, _Ewerat_, a little ugly man of about five-and-forty, was
the only individual among them laying claim to the title of
Angetkook, and was, in reality, a sensible, obliging man, and a
first-rate seal-catcher. They had two children, one of which, a
little girl, Togolat still occasionally suckled, and, according to
custom, carried in the hood behind her back; the other, a boy
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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