they (7th May) sailed from
Spithead, in the Lark, Captain Thomson, the same frigate that had
brought Jans Haven home. He landed them at Cosque, Newfoundland, where
another government vessel, the Niger, received them, and conveyed them
to Chateau Bay, at which place they arrived July 17th; but were there
obliged to separate, the captain, Sir Thomas Adams, having received
instructions to detain some of them, to keep up the friendly
intercourse with the Esquimaux. With these directions, they not
unwillingly complied, their object being to follow the leadings of
Providence, and pursue the line which promised to lead to the greatest
good. Haven and Schliezer therefore proceeded forward, and Drachart
and Hill remained. The two former embarked in a schooner bound for the
north, in order to prosecute their intended exploratory voyages; but
after spending from the 25th of July to the 3d of September, and
reaching the 56th deg. N.L. on the east coast, Labrador, they returned
without having accomplished any thing of importance, not having met
with a single native in any place at which they had landed. The other
two had an opportunity of speaking with hundreds, whom the trade
attracted to their neighbourhood, of which they gave the following
account in their journals: "On the 17th August, we heard that
Esquimaux were coming, and were about twenty English miles off. We
sailed on the 18th, very early, with Sir Thomas, to meet them, and
invited them, in the name of the governor, to Pitt's Harbour.[C] After
some hours we saw the first kaiak. As they approached, the savages
began to call out, in broken French, 'tous camarades oui hu!' which
the sailors answered in the same manner. Drachart allowed the first
shout to pass over; he then took one of them by the hand and said in
Greenlandish, 'Ikinguitigangut,' _i.e._ 'we are friends;' the native
understood, and answered, 'Ikinguitsgenpogui,' 'we are also thy
friends.' We then took some of them into the vessel. A man in a white
woollen coat, said he got it as a keepsake from Jensingoak, _i.e._
Jans Haven, and inquired where he was. At their earnest invitation Mr
Drachart went with them, and found upwards of three hundred assembled,
crying out incessantly, 'We are your friends--be not afraid--we
understand your words--where do you come from?' He answered, 'I have
words to you;' on which the whole adjourned to a green plain without
the camp, and sat down around him. He then told them, 'I come