nd one of them, drawing a knife out of his boot,
exclaimed: "Go away; I can kill you." Sacheuse told them that he wished
to be their friend; and, as a proof of it, he threw them, across the
canal, some strings of beads, and a checked shirt. These were beheld
with great distrust, and Sacheuse threw them a knife. They approached
with caution, took up the knife, and then shouted and pulled their
noses. These actions were imitated by Sacheuse, who, in return, called
out, "Heigh-yaw!" pulling his nose, with the same gesture. They then
pointed to the shirt, and asked him of what skin it was made; but some
time elapsed before they would venture to touch it. After this they
pointed to the ships, and eagerly enquired, "What are those great
creatures? Do they come from the sun or the moon? Do they give us light
by night or by day?" Sacheuse said that they were houses made of wood;
but this, they replied, could not be the case, for the creatures were
alive: they had been seen to flap their wings. Sacheuse again assured
them of the truth of all he had told them, and that he was a man like
themselves; then pointing towards the south, he said he came, in those
houses, from a distant country in that direction. To this they replied,
"No, that cannot be: there is nothing but ice there."

On Sacheuse asking these Indians who they were, they replied that they
were men, and that they lived in a country towards which they pointed
(in the north:) that they had there plenty of water; and that they had
come to the present spot, to catch seals and sea-unicorns.

Sacheuse, wishing to become better acquainted with them, returned to the
ship, for a plank, to enable him to cross over the chasm. He crossed it;
but, on approaching them, they entreated that he would not touch them,
as, in that case, they should certainly die. One of them, however, more
courageous than the rest, ventured to touch his hand; then, pulling his
own nose, he set up a loud shout, in which he was joined by Sacheuse and
the other three.

The whole of the natives, eight in number, now came forward, and were
met by the commanders of the vessels, and the other officers; but they
were, evidently, in a state of great alarm, until the ceremony of
pulling noses had been gone through by both parties, shouting, at the
same time, _heigh-yaw_! With this people the pulling of noses is a mode
of friendly salutation; and their interjection of "heigh-yaw!" is an
expression of surprise and