king and beautiful; when I asked them, if they knew
who made the heavens, the waters, and the earth, and all things that
surrounded us, so pleasing to our sight? their reply was, 'We do not
know whether the Person who made these things is dead or alive.' On
assuring them that I knew, and that it was my real wish that they and
their children should know also the Divine Being, who was the Creator
of all things; and on repeating the question, whether they wished that
white man should come and give them this knowledge, they all
simultaneously expressed a great desire that he should, laughing and
shouting, "heigh! heigh! augh! augh!" One of them afterwards gave me a
map of the coast which they traversed, including Chesterfield Inlet,
and which he drew with a pencil that I lent him, with great accuracy,
pointing out to me the particular rivers where the women speared salmon
in the rapids in summer, while the men were employed in killing the
deer, as they crossed in the water some points of the Inlet; or were
hunting on the coast, catching seals. Being provident, and not so
regardless of the morrow as the Indians in general, they lay up
provisions at these different places for the winter, and probably
seldom suffer from want of food; nor are they long in summer without
their favourite dish of the flesh and fat of the seal, mixed with train
oil as a sauce, which they prefer to salmon; and when not mixed with
their food, they drink the oil as a cordial.

The Esquimaux often surrounded me in groups, during their stay at the
Factory, and cordially shaking hands, were fond of saying, that the
Northern Indians, or Chipewyans, sprang from dogs, but that they were
formerly as white men. I encouraged them in the idea that we were
originally of the same parents, but that they being scattered, we knew
now a great deal more than they did, and therefore came to see if it
were possible to teach their children our knowledge, for their
happiness, and also themselves, if it were their desire. They appeared
to be quite overjoyed at this conversation, and laughed heartily,
shouting, "Heigh! heigh!" saying, (as the interpreter expressed it,)
"We want to know the Grand God."

I told them that there were stones on the edge of the water, in their
country, and that with a little wood, a house might be made like what
they saw at the Fort. Should I, or any other person, ever come from
across the great lake, to build this house, where their children mi