The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-09 00:00:00

conduct, and I had no doubt our ,wintering among them
would, eventually be attended with beneficial results. The
I commencement of our intercourse was attended with many
unpleasant circumstances No single boat's crow could be
at any distance from the ship without being pilfered from
in the most daring and barefaced way, and upon e very
trivial, and often without any occasion, their knives were
drawn upon our men, who, although armed with muskets,
had strict orders in no case to make even a show of them,
nulesfr obliged by necessity, as I thought recourse to that
force was to bo avoided, when a good feeling in favour of
any of our missing countrymen who may at any future
period be in their power was the object sought. Carrying
out these views to the extent of not showing our arms was
not appreciated, as they mistook forbearance for timidity,
purpose
steo tohfe village,shoetin gtoscularryn thhireciirs,gtuhnes
snhoomwinoafltl
eand, at the request of two officers going with a watering
was
y them
found to have so good an effect that it was adopted on all
future occasions, although we were obliged to cease send-
ing for water after a few turns, there being always some
unpleasant display on their part that was best avoided
when possible.
While occurrences such as I have mentioned were taking
place daily with our parties away from the ship, the diffi-
culty of dealing with those collected about her
was suffi-
cient to employ all the people left on board, exclusive of
the pressing duties of the ship, with a small crew at this
season.
About the 15th of September they appeared to be re-
turning to their winter huts, from their usual summer's
excursion along the coast to the eastward, and, as the ship
lay in their direct track, we had a visit from all of them,
including also the Cape Smyth tribe, being the two most
numerous in any part of the coast, numbering together
about 500. As many as seven or eight large "U-mi-aks"
arrived daily for eight or nine days, containing their sum-
mer tents, families, clogs and sledges, &c. They appeared
perfect strangers, and looked in amazement at us and the
ship. They brought with them, a small quantity of fish
and venison ; with the latter they parted reluctantly, and
seemed to prefer begging and stealing (in which they were
most unscrupulous) to any kind of exchange.
On the morning of the 17th I was informed that a large
U-mi-ak had come alongside, and the crew had forced
their way on board. As this was not an uncommon case
I thought nothing of it, when I found that Lieutenant
Vernon was attending on deck. He soon came down to
inform me that the chief of the party had a musket, and
was very anxious to get gunpowder in exchange for veni-
son. This piece of information • I considered the worst I
had received among many unpleasant circumstances that
I had experienced, feeling that we could not remain among
them if they had firearms.
It will be proper to state here that we have, at a vim,
late period of our stay, identified this chief as the same who
followed and annoyed Commander Pullen at Point Berens
in 1849, full particulars of which are given in his journal
As he expressed a wish to see me, I went up and found
a large, powerful, elderly man, with a peculiarly bad ex-
pression of the countenance. He had a Hudson's Bay
musket, with the name of Barnett on the lock ; it was a
good deal worn, but fit for service. He had a powder horn
hanging hunter-fashion under his left arm, but pretended
to have neither ball nor shot, for which he was most press-
ing, and would not dispose of anything except for ammu-
nition. This, as a matter of course, he was not supplied
with. I saluted him with much friendship, made his wife
a present, and took him down to nay cabin, where I made
him a present of tobacco and satisfied his curiosity about
the ship below. Then I took him on deck with the idea
that he would go away; but nothing seemed further from
his thoughts, as he remained about the decks and slipped
down the hatchways on to the lower deck several times—
a part of the ship they have not had access to during any
period of our stay. During the forenoon several "U-rni-
aks" arrived alongside the ship, discharging their crews in
swarms on our deck, so as literally to crowd it for the day.
They were allowed every freedom consistent with their
known propensity for stealing ; but some bolder than others
were difficult to deal with. One man attempted to force
back the after-ladder doors, and my stopping him brought
about a slight scuffle between us. That did not seem to
have satisfied him, as he soon afterwards came in contact
with the quartermaster of the watch, a quiet but rather
short-tempered powerful young man, who, before any •
-
body could interfere, gave him a lesson he will not soon
forget ; he dealt him fair English blows. about the head,
each of them sufficient to stun any one except an Esqui-
maux ; but he received them until they had the effect of
quite taming him, when he was put over the side in the
presence of at least 60 of his countrymen, few of whom
offered to interfere, and the remainder looked on with in-
difference. About noon, when, at my particular desire
three parts of the crowd went away, the remainder were
evidently detained by the old chief, whom there was no
moving out of the ship without having recourse to force,
and this I had no intention of, preferring to wait until he
got tired of his visit, and this seemed unlikely for the pre-
sent, as he hailed three 11-mi-aks, full of people, to come
alongside. I heard the word " tewac" (tobacco) used very
often, I supposed as the inducement, and the children, I
observed, had been sent away. It occurred to me they
might have thoughts of pillaging the ship, their numbers
to ours seeming so overpowering. In order to be prepared
for anything of the kind the men stationed on deck were
sent down, one at a time, to arm themselves with pis-
tols,
to be kept out of sight in their breasts, in the event
of a simultaneous attack being made with their knives, all
being provided with good ones, and adepts in their use.
When the men were all armed I was satisfied to wait the
result. A silence seemed to prevail, as if they had not de-
cided what to do, and, whether they had or not meditated
any mischief beyond stealing as much as they could, they
attempted nothing, and went away as night came on, leav-
ing the old chief with his own boat only. He had conti-
nued to range about the ship in the most insolent way, and
I think it reasonable to suppose it was only the fear of
of our firearms that kept him from mischief. When left
by himself, I was cautious not to urge his going away, as
I had done when there were 70 people with him, t, letting
him choose his own time, he remained until 7 p.m.—a visit
of 12 hours. When he was gone I was so thoroughly tired
and provoked, and knowing that every person in the ship
must be suffering in the same way, it became necessary to
adopt a different system, the number of small articles
stolen during the day, notwithstanding all our vigilance,
affording sufficient pretext for the change. All work was
stopped the next day, and an efficient arrangement made
to allow only one boat's crew on board at a time, and,
whatever dissatisfaction it might give it was necessary to
adopt it.
IV seems necessary to mention here the difficulty of
keeping a numerous tribe of nativeseut of a vessel like the
Plover, as the ice chocks make a convenient landing place
on the outside not more than four feet from the water,
running the whole length on both sides, where they mount
in all directions, and in some cases, when prevented, they
cut at our men's legs with their knives, and in one or two
instances cut through bore-cloth trousers. While the
knives of some were engaged in this way, those of others
were busily employed cutting the lead scupper pipes out
of the side. The nails of the copper were proof against
them, but no part of the side escaped their attempts.
From this cause it became necessary to cover all the parts
assailable outside with a sheathing of wood, and after the
ship was frozen in which she enclosed round with a chain,
riven through posts fixed in the ice, at the distance of
seven yards from the side. This arrangement, although
very unpopular, was found most beneficial.
The day succeeding the one last described the chief was
observed sitting on the spot close to the ship, and I was
told had hailed the ship, as if he wished to be sent
for. This I thought too good a joke. He was soon after-
wards picked up by his own boat, and came alongside, but,
to his surprise, was not allowed on board, as so many
things had been stolen the previous day. During the time
he was standing on the
.gangway, the crew happened to be
cleaning, discharging, and reloading their arms and ex-
amining the two carronades, at which he seemed to stare a
good deal and went away. Several U-mi-aks arrived
alongside, as usual, during the day, but none of the crews
were allowed on board. Soon bartering was carried on
and a few presents made to them, but they seemed to prefer
adding to their stock by stealing to any exchange.
/The following morning we had another early visit from
the chief, accompanied by some other leading men. They
brought as a peace offering allithe articles stolen from the
ship for several days. This I considered very satisfactory,
and permitted them to come on board. They remained
the whole day, but their conduct was altered very much
for the better, particularly the old chief, who was now
content to remain on the quarter deck, to which they were
restricted. I think the display of our cleaning arms
before the chief on the day previous led him to imagine
we were intent on doing them mischief, and seemed to
account for this sudden change in their manner.
The system of keeping them out of the ship, except with
permission, and then to a very limited number only, being
once commenced, it was continued throughout our stay,
and, although it was very difficult to make them under-
stand the necessity for it, which made it disliked, and was
the cause of some ill feeling towards us, it was impossible,
through their numbers and want of honesty, to adopt any
other course. At first we endeavoured to explain to them
that wo wished all to come on board in turn, but, so far
from entering into this view, those who were admitted
and remained the whole day would invariably be the first
alongside alongside on the following morning, and be themost
cla-
morous and least satisfied of those not admitted. These
disappointments, at not being allowed on board, were
retaliated in one orparties
two instances by landing and
alv rr 'ng away our driftwood, collected in a stack on th 3
spitc
near the ship. This was found too laborious a revenge
for them, and fire was tried, but a boat being sent, they
pretended it was an accident, and did not repeat it.
On the occasion of our cutting into winter quarters, our
men being of necessity much spread about on the ice, and
frequently surrounded by three times their number of
natives, much caution was nec?ssary to prevent the tools
from being stolen, and many slight squabbles took place
between our men• and theirs in consequence of their playing
them tricks and trying to trip
them up. On these occasions
they always selected those of our people who, from their
appearance, were least likely to resent their jokes, and in
some instances they found they had mistaken their men.
Points of this sort were the most difficult for a command-
ing officer to deal with, as it was not possible for him to
prevent the provocation, and when not resented the mo-
tives were misunderstood.

A more serious affair took place on board the ship. The
officer in charge, Mr. Hull, second master, in keeping back
a large powerful man who attempted to force his way over
the side, had a knife drawn on him by a friend of the
others on board the ship, who immediately called out for
the women and children to retire. Mr. Simpson, the sur-
geon, was, standing near, and very soon produced before
the man with the knife one of Coles revolving pistols, and
explained to him the use of its six charges, which had the
effect of keeping them very quiet for the remainder of the
day. I met the women and children retreating over the
ice ahead of the ship, and thought something must have
happened, although they told me they were going home to
dinner. A chief, arriving at the same time, reassured the
retreating party, when we explained to them that if they
used knives we must use guns, but otherwise we wished
to be good friends. Similar squabbles took place fre-
quently. While our men were employed building the
storehouse, knives were drawn as usual, and in two in-
stances the women and children were sent away. This
was a cause of a good deal of anxiety with me, as our men,
be ing unarmed, were very much at their mercy under such
circumstances, and, in the event of arming them, more
forbearance was necessary than some of them would have
been found to possess, from the frequent provocations they
had received in return for the usual kindness and good-
nature that characterise seamen. On giving the subject
every consideration, and seeing 'that it must excite an
unpleasant feeling for cur men to have knives pointed
at them without a means of defence being at hand,
the quartermaster of the watch, and two petty officers of
the party working on shore, were armed with pistols, but
properly cautioned not to produce them unless under cir-
cumstances of necessity, as I hoped the mere knowledge of
their having them would be sufficient.
Of this we soon
had an instance. One of them played off one of their usual
bac back practicalof
the
hj
eokkenseeens ounileeonf
coaurrry ean, by kicking him in the
a spar,
for which ho was
rewarded with a blow on the face. He then drew his knife,
marines
ran away.
coiningul)
and being known
twohleianytehae
pistolcor"lpo
thel of
offender These sort of an-
hoyances continued as long as our men had work to do
outside of the ship, and when the natives were collected in