beach, and
continued with the descent of the river; winding, in our course, as
numerous sand-banks rendered necessary. In a few hours we descried
another collection of Indian lodges. One of the party happened to be
examining his nets nearer to us than the tents; on espying the boat, he
immediately desisted, and paddled towards his friends with the utmost
speed, bawling the whole way for them to arm. The women and children
were seen hurrying up the bank to hide themselves; and by the time we
had got abreast of the lodges, the whole party were in a state of
defence. They stood on the beach gazing at us evidently with much
distrust; and for some time no one would accept our invitations to
approach. At length an adventurous youth, distinguishable among the rest
by the gaiety of his dress, and the quantity of beads that were
suspended around his neck, launched his canoe and paddled gently towards
the boat, till he discovered Augustus, whom he knew by his countenance
to be an Esquimaux; then rising from his seat, he threw up his hands for
joy, and desired every one of the party to embark at once. The summons
was instantly obeyed, and a friendly intercourse followed; each person
that had a gun discharging its contents, and taking the iron heads and
barbs from the arrows, to show their entire confidence. On landing to
breakfast, we found that the dialect of this party was different from
that of the men we had seen yesterday, and that Baptiste did not
understand their language; consequently our communications were carried
on by signs, except when they attempted to speak Esquimaux, which
Augustus, with difficulty, made out. He was still the centre of
attraction, notwithstanding Mr. Kendall and myself were dressed in
uniform, and were distributing presents to them. They caressed Augustus,
danced and played around him, to testify their joy at his appearance
among them, and we could not help admiring the demeanour of our
excellent little companion under such unusual and extravagant marks of
attention. He received every burst of applause, every shake of the hand,
with modesty and affability, but would not allow them to interrupt him
in the preparation of our breakfast, a task which he always delighted to
perform. As soon as we had finished our meal, he made his friends sit
down, and distributed to each person a portion of his own, but without
any affectation of superiority. When we were on the point of embarking,
the oldest Indian of