wn the main hatchway, to
wait till the next day. Now and then one or other of the sledges, not
carefully constructed, would come to pieces, and we had to wait while it
was being repaired; otherwise we got on very well, and, I suspect,
faster than if we had not had them to drag after us. At length our
journey was almost accomplished, and in a few minutes we expected to
arrive at what we already had begun to call our home,--it was, indeed,
the only home we were likely to have for a long time to come.

We had rounded the rocky point, and were dragging our sledges towards
our hut, when what was our surprise to see a group of human beings,
clothed from head to foot in skins, standing round it, examining it
apparently with much curiosity! On seeing us they drew up in a line,
and advanced slowly towards us down the hill. They numbered twice as
many as we did; and as they had arms in their hands, Andrew ordered us
to stop, to see what they would do.

"Show them that we wish to be friends, lads, and place your lances and
the guns on the ground," said Andrew.

We did as he directed, and instantly the Esquimaux, for such we saw they
were, threw aside their spears and knives, and cried out, "_Tima,
Tima_!" and advanced with outstretched arms towards us.

We uttered the same words and advanced also. We soon saw by the
expression of their countenances that they were amicably disposed
towards us; and from their manner of behaving, we suspected that we were
not the first Europeans they had met.

They all appeared comfortably clothed. The men wore deerskin jackets
with hoods to them, to be drawn over the head; their trousers were
generally of sealskin, made to reach below the knee, and their boots
were of the same substance, with the hair inside. Some of them had
shoes over their boots, and an under-jacket of deer-skin. The dress of
the women was very similar, except that their jackets had long flaps
behind, reaching almost to the ground, and were pointed in front. There
were several children, who kept in the background, and they were all
dressed exactly like the older ones; and funny little beings they were,
reminding one forcibly of hedge-hogs, or rather of little bears and
dancing dogs.

They advanced slowly in a line as we walked forward; but when we had got
near enough to see each other's faces they stopped. Whatever sign we
made they instantly imitated; and there was a merry, good-natured
expression in their count