ud halloo, which
brought five or six others from an adjoining island, and in the evening
there was a further addition to the party of some young men, who had
been hunting, and who afterwards sent their wives to bring us a part of
the spoils of their chase. They remained near the tents the greater part
of the night, and testified their delight by dancing and singing. An old
woman, whose hair was silvered by age, made a prominent figure in these
exhibitions.

The information we obtained from them confirmed that which we had
received from the last party, namely, that they procure the iron,
knives, and beads, through two channels, but principally from a party of
Esquimaux who reside a great distance to the westward, and to meet whom
they send their young men every spring with furs, seal-skins, and oil,
to exchange for those articles; and also from the Indians, who come
every year from the interior to trade with them by a river that was
directly opposite our encampment; which I have, therefore, named the
Mountain Indian River. These Indians leave their families and canoes at
two days' march from the mouth of the river, and the men come alone,
bringing no more goods than they intend to barter. They were represented
to be tall stout men, clothed in deer-skins, and speaking a language
very dissimilar to their own. They also said that the Esquimaux to the
westward, speak a dialect so different from theirs, that at the first
opening of the communication, which was so recent as to be within the
memory of two of our present companions, they had great difficulty in
understanding them. Several quarrels took place at their first meetings,
in consequence of the western party attempting to steal; but latterly
there has been a good understanding between them, and the exchanges have
been fairly made.

Our visitors did not know from what people either the Indians or the
Esquimaux obtained the goods, but they supposed from some "Kabloonacht,"
(white people,) who reside far to the west. As the articles we saw were
not of British manufacture, and were very unlike those sold by the
Hudson's Bay Company to the Indians, it cannot be doubted that they are
furnished by the Russian Fur Traders, who receive in return for them all
the furs collected on this northern coast. Part of the Russian iron-work
is conveyed to the Esquimaux dwelling on the coast east of the
Mackenzie. The western Esquimaux use tobacco, and some of our visitors
had smoked it,