ough only thirty-four, had the
appearance of being at least ten years older. They had married when she
was twenty,--the usual age for marriage, as he told me. His daughter,
rather a pretty and slight-made girl, was very busy making shoes for
her brothers out of cured skin. I rewarded the youthful sempstress by
giving her one of a number of dolls kindly sent me for the purpose by
Mrs. W. of Woolwich; and could that kind friend have seen the joyful
countenance of the Esquimaux child, she would indeed have been richly
remunerated for her thoughtful little addition to my stock of presents.
To finish my Esquimaux tale, I was next day not a little surprised at
the father coming on board, and giving me a small pouch which his child
had sewn for me in return for my present. This proved at least that
Esquimaux children can appreciate kindness as well as others.

The Whale-Fish group consist of a congery of islets, of various shapes
and sizes, with deep water channels between; the whole of granitic
formation, with broad veins of quartz and masses of gneiss overlaying
in various directions. Those I visited exhibited proof of constant and,
I might say, rapid destruction from the action of water and frost. The
southern and south-west sides of the larger islands were of, may be,
300 or 400 feet elevation, with a gradual dip to the north-east, as if
their creation had been brought about by some submarine agency
upheaving the primary rock, with an irregular force from the
north-east.

The tallest cliffs were rent from crown to base, and frost-cracks
intersected one another in such a perfect labyrinth, that the whole
mass appeared as if merely hanging together from its stupendous weight.
The narrow bays and bights with a southern aspect, where the concussion
of a heavy sea had had its effect, were strewn with the wreck of the
adjacent precipices, and progress for sportsmen along the shore, in
pursuit of wild fowl, was extremely difficult. On the northern sides,
these islands showed other features quite as peculiar to the glacial
region upon which we were wandering: there the low projecting ledges of
granite were polished by the constant attrition of oceanic ice and
icebergs, until walking over them became barely possible.

_June 18th, 1850._--I am much amused at the ease with which we
assimilate ourselves to new climates and new habits. Yesterday, my
friend Dr. P---- and I bathed within fifty yards of an iceberg, the
water only two