Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-06-12
AMONG THE EsauIMAux-

Our savage friends were kind and generous.
They anticipated our every wish. One of the
young women, true to the instincts of her sex,
ran of to the valley, with dozen boys and
girls at her heels, and filed our kettles with
water kalutunah's koono (wife) brought us
a steak of seal, and a dainty piece of liver.
All smiled at the slowly burning canvas wick
OF our lamp, and at the sputtering salt fat;
and the chief sent his daughter for some dried
moss and blubber. We gave them a share of
our meal, offered them a taste IF coffee, and
passed around some pieces Of ship biscuit.
The biscuit proved too hard for their teeth, and
until they saw US eat, they could not divine
its use. They laughed and nibbIed it altern.
ately, and then stuck it in tseif boots-sheir
general temporary receptacle for all curios-
tiles. They made wry faces over the coffee,
and general laugh arose against the Ange-
kok, who persisted in taking a drink of the hot
liquid. We had, altogether an amusing time
with them. The evening being warm. we sat
upon the rock for several hours, and after sup
per our men lighted their pipes. This capped
the climax of our strange customs. The Es-
quimaux seemed amazed looked first at US
then at each other, then at us again. They
evidently thought ii a religious ceremony
seeing how solemn were our faces. At length
/ could not abstain from a smile; the signal
thus given was followed by shouting, clapping
of hands, and general confusion among the
troop. They ran about, putting out their
cheeks, and initiating, as nearly as they could,
the motions of the smokers. KaIutunah, who
was determined to try everything, begged to
be allowed to smoke pipe. One being handed
to him, ne was directed to take long and deep
inhalation; this accomplished, he desired no
more, and his rueful face brought the mirth of
the party again upon him.
Having thus established the most kindly re-
lations, we presented a needle 10 each of the
women, which greatly delighted them; and
having nothing else to Offer US in return. thew
started on IN body and brought us q few
pieces OF blubber. This was what we most
wanted, and they were asked to barter more of
1t fer knife. The question must have been
misunderstood, for an old woman who WAS
called Eglay6t, (meaning intestines.) y and who
seemed to be one In authority, told a long story
representing how poor they were how upsuc-
cesSful they had been in the hunt, how thew
would soon have no fire and nothing tn eat
and how the winter would soon be upon them:
In short, if We could believe her, they were lust
on the eve of dying l have heard such stories
before, near the equator, when substantial fa-
vors were likely to be required, and began to
suspect that we had commenced at the wrong
end with our negotiations. Accordingly sug.
gested to Peterson the propriety of saying that
we came for the purpose of bestowing numer-
Gus blessings upon them; that we abo1nded in
knives, needles, wood, and iron, and that we
expected in return for our bountiful gifts sueh
of their paltry goods as we might REQUIRE
during our journey among their people Peter
son acted upon the suggestion, and Interpreted
my speech to them in a very solemn manner.
Whether because Of the speech, the sudden ex
hibition which followed Of the coveted knives
or the disposition to do good thing, 1 cannot
say but certain it is, that the voice Of the old
woman gave place to that of the dark skinned
Nslegak lehief who replied, quite laconicaIly.
The white men shall have bIubberu'
They were in fact badly provided The hunt
had latterly been unproductive, and they had
not. IN the whole settlement, food for three
days They were to hunt on the morrow, and
if successful, they would give us the required
supplies, in case We would wait This was all
very fine, but the game was still in the sea
There was clearly manifested a disposition to
furnish US with what they could command.
They all went away in body, and returned in
a few minutes, each with a piece of fat. some
of the pieces not being larger than ones hand
Every one expected, Of course, his or her re-
ward but it was quite impossible to pay them
in this manner, and we therefore divided them
into families, giving to each of these something
Thus we distributed few small pieces of wood
dozen needles, and a couple of knives. Alto
gether, the supply of blubber was sufficient to
fill our keg. We obtained, also a small bag
ful Of dry moss, which served us much better
for lamp-wick than canvas or rope-yarn, which
we had previously used. We could not obtain
any food, for the poor creatures had none either
TO give or to barter.-Dr. Hnye's Aretic Boat
Journey.