ding in the distance. Taking the exact
bearings of the spot, I slid down an almost perpendicular precipice, of
three hundred feet at least, at an awful rate, and then ran on as fast
as my legs would carry me, for after a solitude of eight months I longed
to see my fellow-creatures, and hear again the human voice. On I went,
but still to my disappointment no ship appeared in sight, till at last I
saw in front of me a low round hut, evidently the habitation of
Esquimaux--a people whose habits, manners, and appearance I was never
much given to admire. I should observe that what with my bear-skin
cloak and my long beard and hair, (I say it without any unbecoming
humility) I did, probably, look rather an outlandish character.

"As I understood something of the Esquimaux lingo--indeed, there are few
tongues I don't know something about--I shouted loudly to attract their
attention. On this, two men, dressed in skins, came out of the hut, and
answered me in so extraordinary a dialect, that even I did not
comprehend what they said. I then hailed them in Russian, but their
answers were perfectly unintelligible. I next tried French, but they
shook their heads, as was, I thought, but natural for Esquimaux who were
not likely to have been sent to Paris for their education. I then spoke
a little Spanish to them, but I was equally at a loss to understand
their answers. Portuguese was as great a failure; even several of the
languages of the North American Indians did not assist us in
communicating our ideas to each other. I tried Hindostanee, Arabic, and
Chinese, with as little effect. This was, indeed, provoking to a man
who had not exchanged a word with a fellow-creature for so many months,
till at last, losing temper, I exclaimed in English more to myself than
to them:--

"`Well, I wonder what language you do speak then?'

"`English, to be sure,' answered both the men in a breath, `and never
spoke any other in our lives.'

"`Are you, indeed, my countrymen?' I cried, rushing forward and
throwing myself into their arms, for by the tone of their voices I
discovered that not only were they Englishmen, but my own former
shipmates.

"They, of course, thinking that I had long been dead, had not recognised
me; indeed I had some difficulty, as it was, in convincing them of my
identity, and of the truth of the account I gave of my adventures since
I left the ship. I was certainly an odd object, with a beard of so
prodigious