Journals, стр. 17

some of my men discharged their fowling pieces, that were only loaded with powder, at the report of which the Indians were very much alarmed, as they had not before heard the discharge of firearms. This circumstance had such an effect upon our guide, that we had reason to apprehend he would not fulfil his promise. When, however, he was informed that the noise which he had heard was a signal of friendship, he was persuaded to embark in his own small canoe, though he had been offered a seat in ours.

Two of his companions, whom he represented as his brothers, followed us in their canoes; and they amused us not only with their native songs, but with others, in imitation of the Eskimo; and our new guide was so enlivened by them, that the antics he performed, in keeping time to the singing, alarmed us with continual apprehension that his boat must upset: but he was not long content with his confined situation, and paddling up alongside our canoe, requested us to receive him in it, though but a short time before he had resolutely refused to accept our invitation. No sooner had he entered our canoe, than he began to perform an Eskimo dance, to our no small alarm. He was, however, soon prevailed upon to be more tranquil; when he began to display various indecencies, according to the customs of the Eskimo, of which he boasted an intimate acquaintance. On our putting to shore, in order to leave his canoe, he informed us, that on the opposite hill the Eskimo, three winters before, killed his grandfather. We saw a fox, and a groundhog on the hill, the latter of which the brother of our guide shot with his bow and arrow.

About four in the afternoon we perceived a smoke on the west shore, when we traversed and landed. The natives made a most terrible uproar, talking with great vociferation, and running about as if they were deprived of their senses, while the greater part of the women, with the children, fled away. Perceiving the disorder which our appearance occasioned among these people, we had waited some time before we quitted the canoe; and I have no doubt, if we had been without people to introduce us, that they would have attempted some violence against us; for when the Indians send away their women and children, it is always with a hostile design. At length we pacified them with the usual presents, but they preferred beads to any of the articles that I offered them; particularly such as were of a blue colour; and one of them even requested to exchange a knife which I had given him for a small quantity of those ornamental baubles. I purchased of them two shirts for my hunters; and at the same time they presented me with some arrows, and dried fish. This party consisted of five families, to the amount, as I suppose, of forty men, women, and children; but I did not see them all, as several were afraid to venture from their hiding-places. They are called Deguthee Dinees, or the Quarrellers.

Our guide, like his predecessors, now manifested his wish to leave us, and entertained similar apprehensions that we should not return by this passage. He had his alarms also respecting the Eskimo, who might kill us and take away the women. Our Indians, however, assured him that we had no fears of any kind, and that he need not be alarmed for himself. They also convinced him that we should return by the way we were going, so that he consented to re-embark without giving us any further trouble; and eight small canoes followed us. Our courses this day were southwest by west six miles, southwest by south thirty miles, southwest three miles, west by south twelve miles, west by north two miles, and we encamped at eight in the evening on the eastern bank of the river.

The Indians whom I found here, informed me, that from the place where I this morning met the first of their tribe, the distance overland, on the east side, to the sea, was not long, and that from hence, by proceeding to the westward, it was still shorter. They also represented the land on both sides as projecting to a point. These people do not appear to harbour any thievish dispositions; at least we did not perceive that they took, or wanted to take, anything from us by stealth or artifice. They enjoyed the amusements of dancing and jumping in common with those we had already seen; and, indeed, these exercises seem to be their favourite diversions. About midday the weather was sultry, but in the afternoon it became cold. There was a large quantity of wild flax, the growth of last year, laying on the ground, and the new plants were sprouting up through it. This circumstance I did not observe in any other part.

Friday, July 10.⁠—At four in the morning we embarked, at a small distance from the place of our encampment: the river, which here becomes narrower, flows between high rocks; and a meandering course took us northwest four miles. At this spot the banks became low; indeed, from the first rapid, the country does not wear a mountainous appearance; but the banks of the river are generally lofty, in some places perfectly naked, and in others well covered with small trees, such as the fir and the birch. We continued our last course for two miles, with mountains before us; whose tops were covered with snow.

The land is low on both sides of the river, except these mountains, whose base is distant about ten miles: here the river widens, and runs through various channels, formed by islands, some of which are without a tree, and little more than banks of mud and sand; while others are covered with a kind of spruce fir, and trees of a larger size than we had seen for the