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
Besides the toys and models I have mentioned above, as articles of
barter with these people, we also employed them more usefully in
making wooden shades for the eyes, after their own method, as the
time was fast approaching when some such precaution would become
necessary to guard the eyes from the excessive glare of reflected
light. There was also a considerable _trade_ established in
mittens, which being made of prepared sealskin, and nearly
water-tight, were particularly serviceable to our men when
constantly handling the leadlines in the summer. In this manner we
contrived to turn our new acquaintance to some little account.
Among the natives who visited the Fury to-day was Ewerat; of whom
I have already spoken as _Ang-et-kook_, or chief sorcerer of the
tribe, a distinction with which he had made some of our gentlemen
acquainted at one, of their earliest visits to the huts. Being
desirous of seeing him perform some of the tricks which had
acquired for him this pre-eminence, I requested him to indulge me
with a sight of them. After some little demur, he began to make
his lips quiver, then moved his nose up and down, gradually closed
his eyes, and increased the violence of his grimaces till every
feature was hideously distorted; at the same time, he moved his
head rapidly from side to side, uttering sometimes a snuffling
sound, and at others a raving sort of cry. Having worked himself
into this ridiculous kind of phrensy, which lasted, perhaps, from
twenty to thirty seconds, he suddenly discontinued it, and
suffered his features to relax into their natural form; but the
motion of his head seemed to have so stupified him, as indeed it
well might, that there remained an unusual vacancy and a drowsy
stare upon his countenance for some time afterward. Being pressed
to repeat this piece of buffoonery, he did so two or three times;
and on one occasion Togolat asked him, in a serious tone, some
questions respecting me, which he as seriously answered. In
general, however, the women paid little attention to his grimaces,
and the whole ended with a hearty laugh from all parties.
I had to-day some conversation with a woman named Appokiuk, whom
Iligliuk had mentioned as having seen Kabloona people before us.
This woman was gifted, however, with such a volubility of tongue,
that speaking, as she did, in a language very imperfectly known to
us, she gave no time for questions, and therefore afforded little
information. All we could make out for certain was, that she had,
within a year past, seen two _Kabloona oomiak_ (whether ships or
boats was still doubtful[*]), and that her husband was now far
away. From all this we concluded that she had been far enough to
the southward to see the Hudson's Bay ships in the course of their
annual voyage; and this account gave us very sanguine hopes of
being thus able to communicate with them by means of some of the
Esquimaux.
[Footnote: These people apply the word _oomiak_ to any vessel
larger than a canoe.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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