recommended them strongly to go and hunt for furs. But they seemed to
like their quarters, and refused to move. The new arrivals, along with
those who had first come, formed a band of about three hundred, and were
found, almost without exception, to be a quiet, inoffensive, and honest
people.

As a proof of this latter quality, we may mention a circumstance that
occurred a few days after the arrival of the last band. Being desirous
of taking some additional soundings, Stanley launched his boat by the
help of the Esquimaux, for his own men were all absent hunting and
fishing. The boat referred to had been sent to the fort in the ship,
and was a most useful and acceptable gift from the Governor of the Fur
Company to the gentleman in charge of Ungava. Stanley hoisted his
sails, and prepared to run down the river; but ere he had advanced a
hundred yards, he was startled by a burst of loud cries from the shore,
and, looking back, he observed the whole band of natives pouring like a
torrent into the fort! His heart leaped within him as he thought of his
unprotected wife and child. Turning the boat towards the shore, he ran
it on the beach, and, leaving it with all the sails standing, he rushed
into the square of the fort, forcing his way through the crush of
natives, whose vociferous talking rendered what they said, for a time,
unintelligible. At length Moses forced his way through the crowd,
followed by one of the natives, who led a large dog by a line fastened
round its neck.

"What's the matter, Moses? what's wrong?" cried Stanley.

"Oh, not'ing at all," replied Moses, casting a look of pity at his
countrymen. "Dem are great gooses. Die man here wid de dog, him say
dat de child'n was play in de square of dis fort, an' one o' dem trow
stone and broke a window. It was de son ob dis man what do it, an' him
say he most awful sorry--an' all de people sorry, so dey bring de dog to
pay for de broken window."

"I'm glad it's nothing worse," cried Stanley, much relieved. "Tell them
I'm happy to find they are sorry, and I hope they will keep the children
out of the square in future; but I don't want the dog. It was an
accident, and not worth making such a noise about."

The Esquimaux, however, would not agree to look upon this accident as a
light matter. They said truly, that glass was not to be got so easily
as the ice-blocks with which they formed windows to their own winter
houses, so they insisted on the dog