went with the
_kayak_. But the owner did not see it in that light. As soon as it had
been hauled on deck, he proceeded to untie the thongs, much to the
amusement of the captain. As we wished these articles to go together,
nothing remained but to drive a new bargain for them. Raed,
therefore, took one of our large jack-knives from his pocket, and,
opening it, pointed to the paddle, and again said _chymo_.

They all _negga-mai-ed_, giving us to understand that it wouldn't be a
fair trade; in other words, that they couldn't afford it: and the
owner of the paddle kept repeating the work _karrack_ deprecatingly.

"What in the world does _karrack_ mean?" Raed asked, turning to us.

Nobody knew.

"_Karrack?_" queried he.

"_Karrack, karrack!_" was the reply.

"_Karrack, karrack, karrack!_" they all cried, pointing to the paddle
and also to the bulwarks.

"They mean _wood!_" exclaimed the captain. "Corliss, bring up two or
three of those four-foot sticks such as we are using for firewood."

It was brought, and thrown down on deck.

"_Karrack, karrack!_" they all exclaimed, and fell to laughing in a
most extraordinary way, making a noise which seemed to come from low
down in their stomachs, and resembled the syllables _heh-heh_, or
_yeh-yeh_, over and over and over. Raed pointed to the three sticks of
wood, and then to the paddle, with another "_chymo_." That was _tyma_;
for they all nodded and _heh-hehed_ again.

"A trade," said the captain. "Now for the harpoon and line."

These we got for a bar of iron and another stick of wood. It at first
seemed rather singular that they should prize a stick of ordinary
split wood so highly; but it was easily accounted for when we came to
reflect that this vast region is destitute of trees of any size. Wood
was almost as eagerly sought for as iron. I have no doubt that a very
profitable trade might be made with a cargo of wood along these
straits, exchanged for walrus-ivory, bear-skins, and seal-skins.

They wore a sort of jacket, or round frock, of bear-skin, with a cap,
or hood, fastened to the collar like the hood of a water-proof. It was
tied with thongs in front, and came down to the thigh. Kit bought one
of these for a jack-knife,--for a curiosity, of course. Wade also
purchased a pair of seal-skin moccasons, with legs to the knee, for a
butcher-knife; which gave us a chance to observe that the owner wore
socks of dog-skin, with the hair in. A pair of these were _chymoed