of three rough stones
carelessly placed on end against one side, and they had several
pots of _lapis ollaris_ for culinary purposes. These people seemed
to us altogether more cleanly than any Esquimaux we had before
seen, both in their persons and in the interior of their tent, in
neither of which could we discover much of that rancid and pungent
smell which is in general so offensive to Europeans. One instance
of their cleanliness which now occurred, deserves, perhaps, to be
noticed, both because this is justly considered rather a rare
quality among Esquimaux, as well as to show in what way they do
sometimes exercise it. When leaving the tent to return to our
boats, I desired one of the seamen to tie the articles we had
purchased into a single bundle, for the convenience of carrying
them; but the elder of the two male Esquimaux, who watched the man
thus employed, would not permit it to be done without excluding a
pot, which, as he explained by wiping the lampblack off with one
of his fingers, would soil a clean sealskin jacket that formed
part of the bundle.

Among the few domestic utensils we saw in the tent was the woman's
knife of the Greenlanders described by Crantz, and resembling, in
its semicircular shape, that used by shoemakers in England. The
most interesting article, however, was a kind of bowl, exactly
similar to that obtained by Captain Lyon from the natives of
Hudson's Strait, being hollowed out of the root of the musk-ox's
horn. As soon as I took the cup in my hand, the boy who was our
first companion, and had since been our constant attendant,
pronounced the word _oomingmuk_, thus affording an additional
confirmation to that obtained on the former voyage, of the musk-ox
being the animal described by the natives of the west coast of
Greenland as having occasionally, though rarely, been seen in that
country.

As soon as the Esquimaux became a little more familiar with us,
they repeatedly asked for _sowik_ (iron), in answer to which we
gave them to understand that they must accompany us to our boats if
they wished to obtain any of this precious article. Accordingly,
the whole group set off with us on our return, the males keeping up
with us, and the women a short distance behind. The whole of the
children carried bundles of the branches of ground willow, which
we had just before seen them bring in for their own use, and
which they seemed to consider an article of barter that might be
acceptable to us.