em could not
have rested more than two or three hours. This circumstance served
to correct a notion we had entertained, that, when once abundantly
supplied with food, they took no pains to obtain more till want
began again to stare them in the face. It was now more pleasing to
be assured that, even in the midst of plenty, they did not
indolently give themselves up to repose, but were willing to take
advantage of every favourable opportunity to increase their store.
It is certain, indeed, that, were these people more provident (or,
in other words, less gluttonous, for they do not waste much), they
might never know what it is to want provisions, even during the
most inclement part of the year. The state of the ice was to-day
very unfavourable for their purpose, being broken into pieces so
small that they could scarcely venture to walk upon it.

The morning of the 5th proved favourable for a journey I had in
contemplation to the distant huts, to which Iligliuk, who had come
to Winter Island the day before, promised to be my guide. At six
o'clock I set out, accompanied by Mr. Bushnan and two of the men,
carrying with us a supply of bread-dust, besides our own
provisions and blankets. As the distance was too great for her son
Sioutkuk to walk, we were uncertain, till the moment of setting
out, how this was to be managed, there being no sledge at hand for
the purpose. We found, however, that a man, whom we had observed
for some time at work among the hummocks of ice upon the beach,
had been employed in cutting out of that abundant material a neat
and serviceable little sledge, hollowed like a bowl or tray, out
of a solid block, and smoothly rounded at the bottom. The thong to
which the dogs were attached was secured to a groove cut round its
upper edge; and the young seal-catcher, seated in this simple
vehicle, was dragged along with great convenience and comfort.

The ice over which we travelled was a level floe that had never
suffered disturbance since its first formation in the autumn, and
with not more than an inch and a half of snow upon it. The path
being distinctly marked out by the people, sledges, and dogs that
had before travelled upon it, one might, without any great stretch
of the imagination, have almost fancied it a road leading over a
level and extensive heath towards a more civilized and substantial
village than that which we were now approaching, Iligliuk walked
as nimbly as the best of us: and, after two