. Arctic explorations: the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55. me with the affectionateconfidence of boyhood, and I never gave him a harshword or a hard thought. We were watching in the morning at Bakers death-bed, when one of our deck-watch, who had been cuttingice for the melter, came hurrying down into the cabinwith the report, People hollaing ashore ! I went up>,followed by as many as could mount the gangway;and there they were, on all sides of our rocky harbor,dotting the snow-shores and emerging from the black-ness of the cliffs,—wild and uncouth
. Arctic explorations: the second Grinnell expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, 1853, '54, '55. me with the affectionateconfidence of boyhood, and I never gave him a harshword or a hard thought. We were watching in the morning at Bakers death-bed, when one of our deck-watch, who had been cuttingice for the melter, came hurrying down into the cabinwith the report, People hollaing ashore ! I went up>,followed by as many as could mount the gangway;and there they were, on all sides of our rocky harbor,dotting the snow-shores and emerging from the black-ness of the cliffs,—wild and uncouth, but evidentlyhuman beings. As we gathered on the deck, they rose upon themore elevated fragments of the land-ice, standing singlyand conspicuously like the figures in a tableau of theopera, and distributing themselves around almost in a 202 ESQUIMAUX VISITORS. half-circle. They were vociferating as if to attract ourattention, or perhaps only to give vent to their sur-prise ; but I could make nothing out of their cries,except Hoah, ha, ha! and Ka, kardi! ka, kaali!repeated over and over MEETING THE ESQUIMAUX. There was light enough for me to see that the}^brandished no wea^Dons, and were only tossing theirheads and arms about in violent gesticulations. Amore unexcited inspection showed us, too, that theirnumbers were not as great nor their size as Pata- THE ESQUIMAUX. 203 gonial! as some of us had been disposed to fancy atfirst. In a word, I was satisfied that they were natiA^esof the country; and, calling Petersen from his bunk tobe my interpreter, I proceeded, unarmed and wavingmy open hands, toward a stout figure who made him-self conspicuous and seemed to have a greater numbernear him than the rest. He evidently understood themovement, for he at once, like a brave fellow, leapeddown upon the floe and advanced to meet me fullyhalf-way. He was nearlj^ a head taller than myself, extremelypowerful and well-built, with swarthy complexion andpiercing black eyes. His dr
Size: 2247px × 1112px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookpublisheretcetc, bookyear185
