made the Declaration of American Independence. Here, amid mountains robed in snow—on a sea covered with thick-ribbed ice —among a people free as God's own children can be, we celebrate the birthday of our freedom. The iron free sons of the North have joined us in making the welkin ring with our cheers and steel-throated welcomes of this memorable day. "Soon after nine last night all turned in, agreeing to be on deck a few minutes before twelve midnight. Sleep stole so heavily upon us that it was 1 o'clock A.M. when Morgan came to my berth and called me. A few moments sufficed to find a company, armed and equipped as the law (the George Henry's) directs, ready for action. Some of the company were, as they leaped from their blankets, in stocking-feet and drawers. Nevertheless, they had willing hands and patriotic hearts, wide mouths and deep-toned throats, therefore they 'passed muster.' The signal was given by me, and in voices of thunder we spoke, and then followed cheer upon cheer. The ensign was hoisted, while we saluted it with a round of cheers and sulphurous fire. "After a capital dinner, an old cast-away gun, that had been lying about the deck, was filled to the brim with powder, the charge hammered down, and the barrel plugged to the muzzle. The stock had been ripped off in the morning by the Innuits, leaving only the barrel. It was now taken far out on the ice, placed on a pure white bed, and fired. One grand explosion filled the air, and the old gun was shattered into innumerable fragments, some flying over the vessel, others mounting high into the air, and one piece going as far as Cooper's Island, a quarter of a mile off, where it was afterward picked up. "Such has been our celebration of Independence Day, 1861. "This afternoon I visited Cooper's Island, and, with chisel and hammer, dug out some of the 'black ore,' such as was discovered by Frobisher's expedition of 1578, with which many of his ships were laden. This ore attracts and repels the magnetic needle about like iron. It is very heavy." On the 6th of July I went to Whale Island for the purpose of looking seaward, that I might see the state of the ice and consider the probability of the ship becoming free. It was only about six miles to the open water—the sea. Good prospect, therefore, of soon being entirely free. All the ice, except that around the ship, where islands blocked up the passages, had drifted away, and hope rose strong within us that we should soon be able to FLOWERS.-MUSQUITOES.-UGARNG. 329 make sail from Rescue Harbor where the vessel had lain so long. Another island (Look-out Island) I found wholly destitute of snow, and vegetation was quite luxuriant upon it. Grasses and flowers looked truly beautiful when contrasted with the bay and snow-covered mountains around. On the 7th of July we were visited by the first musquitoes of the season; and, from the torment they gave me, I was strongly reminded of my sufferings at Holsteinborg the previous year, and also had a taste of what would probably come. Another arrival this day was Ugarng and his wives. He was loaded with the spoils of a successful reindeer hunt, and, in addition, had killed a white whale in Cornelius Grinnell Bay. He and several more Innuits went off to the whale depot to see what prospects existed there for hunting or fishing, but he did not remain long. Upon his return he determined to revisit the place he had lately left. Ugarng had great influence among his people, and I have often thought he was not a man to be wholly trusted. Indeed, I sometimes felt that nothing ever done for him would cause a grateful return. He was a bold, successful, and experienced hunter, and, as such, was frequently engaged by the whalers he encountered; but little dependence could be placed upon him. The strongest agreement would be instantly set at naught whenever he saw any thing more likely to conduce to his own interest. In the present case Ugarng was using all his powers of persua sion to induce every Innuit to leave our locality and go with him. What his real motive was I can not say; but it is probable that now, when there was abundance to be had by hunting and sealing, he who disliked the restraints of civilization—wanted to go farther away, and to take along all his friends, relatives, and acquaintances, so as to be perfectly and absolutely free. He tried every means to induce Ebierbing and Tookoolito to go with him, and for a time there was some hesitation on their part about it; but their attachment to me prevailed, and neither of them would consent to go. A general migration, however, did take place. Many of the Innuits accompanied Ugarng; and I afterward heard that several others, as Annawa, Artarkparu, and all belonging and known to them, went away about the same time from the whaling depot (where a few of the ships' crews still remained to look for whales), taking their course up Frobisher Bay. Ugarng's party consisted of his two wives, Kunniu and Punnie; infant, Me-noun; nephew, Eterloong; and his aged mother, Ookijoxy Ninoo, besides Johnny Bull and his wife Kokerzhun, Bob and his wife Polly, Blind George and his daughter Kookooyer. and, lastly, E-tu the wifeless. About the time the great leave-taking took place between these unsophisticated children of the North and Ebierbing with his wife, an incident occurred that especially deserves to be recorded. There was an Innuit young man named E-tu, who had lately joined the natives here from some other place. This Etu I had noticed as somewhat singular in his ways, and remarkable in his appearance. He was much under the protection or rule of Ugarng, and seemed to be his willing follower. Now Ugarng wanted little Ookoodlear (cousin of Ebierbing and niece of Ugarng) to marry this Etu, but she unhesitatingly expressed her dislike to the proposal. On the day of Ugarng and his company's departure, I was on shore to bid them all farewell. About the time this company of Innuits was ready to start for Cornelius Grinnell Bay (July 15th), I went over to Whale Island. As I arrived there I looked toward Look-out Island, and found that the boat of Bob's, with several natives, was on the move southeast toward the open water. The boat was lashed upon a sledge drawn by a portion of Ebierbing's dogs, the natives assisting in pushing. Just by Whale Island was Ugarng's sledge loaded with tupics, and nearly in readiness for the final start. I went into Ebierbing's tupic, and there found Tookoolito busy in attending to her friend Kokerzhun's departure. These two women were strong friends, and the separation for what would probably be a long time was evidently painful; but I saw some one else also much affected. Little Ookoodlear was weeping as if her heart would break, and, on inquiry, I ascertained it was because Ugarng wanted to take her away and marry her to Etu. So great was her dislike to the young man that nothing but force would make her his wife. Ebierbing, seeing the wretchedness of her mind on the subject, went, in company with Koodloo, to Etu, and told him that the girl was yet too young to marry, and that, moreover, she did not like him. This explanation had some effect, and Ookoodlear was allowed to remain behind on Ebierbing declaring that he and his wife would be her protectors. I heard a most extraordinary account of this Etu. It seems that, in consequence of something that happened to his mother be SPOTTED BOY.-BREVOORT ISLAND.-CAPE MURCHISON. 331 fore he was born, the poor infant came into the world marked all over with snow-white spots and black spots, just like a kou-oo-lik, a large spotted kind of seal. The father, looking upon this spotted child as a monster—a living curse in his family—determined to get rid of him, and accordingly conveyed the boy to Ki-ki-tukju-a, i. e., Long Island, called by me Brevoort Island,* the southern point of which is Cape Murchison. This island was quite destitute of means of subsistence, and, to appearance, the poor boy was left there to perish by starvation. Strange to say, however, Etu lived on. He succeeded in catching partridges with his hands, an act never before or since known to have been done by Innuits. Thus the summer passed on, and winter approached. Still he lived, subsisting upon whatsoever he could find in the shape of food, a wild hermit-boy, on a solitary, almost unapproachable island, far from his fellow-beings. Release came to him in the following manner: One day a party of Innuits visited the island, and, to their astonishment, saw this young child standing upon a rock looking at 'them. He was like a statue, and they, knowing the place to be uninhabited, could hardly tell what to think of it. At length they went toward him, and he, seeing them kindly disposed, at once rushed into their arms, and was thus saved from the cruel death intended for him by his inhuman father. Since then he had grown to manhood, being, when I saw him, about twenty-five years old. He had had three wives, none of which remained to him. The first was accidentally drowned; the second was taken away by her mother; and the third—her fate I never learned. His intended fourth, Ookoodlear, who was only about thirteen years old, escaped in the way I have mentioned. Etu's fortune was a hard one. Few liked him. He seemed to be tabooed from his youth, and as if always destined to be an outcast, because Nature had put marks upon his body, making him to differ from others of his kind. Whether it was the knowledge of this isolation that made him a lazy and indifferent hunter. I can not say; but certain it is, such was the character he had, and it redounds to the credit of Ugarng that he gave the poor fellow the hand of friendship in the way he did. * So named after J. Carson Brevoort, of Brooklyn, New York. This is a very long and prominent island south of the cape, on the west side of the entrance to Northumberland Inlet; its southern cape—Cape Murchison—is nearly on a parallel with the north entrance to Cornelius Grinnell Bay. † Named after Sir Roderick I. Murchison, of London, England. Cape Murchison, the south extreme of Brevoort Island, is in lat. 63° 13' N., long. 63° 55' W. CHAPTER XX. The George Henry free from her icy Prison.—Dog "Smile" capturing a Seal.-Fresh Fish caught.—Another Trip to the Whaling Dépôt.—Immense Flocks of Docks. —Large Shoals of Walrus.—A Walrus-attack on the Boat.—Islands in Frobisher Bay. Innuit Diseases.- Consumption.—Sharkey's Wife. "Las-as-ses.” —-Innuit love for Sweets.—Return Trip through Lupton Channel.—French Head again.—Corpse of John Brown gone.—All the Ice disappeared.—Great Heat.— Traveling over broken Ice.—Dangerous Leaps.—The Rescue's Ghost.—Superstition of Sailors.—Ice-floes pressing on the Ship.—Great Danger.—The "Ghost" again appears.—Author's attempt to form a Vocabulary.—Aid of Tookoolito.— The Innuits fast passing away.—Return of all the Crew from Whaling Depot.— Mate Rogers. Incidents of his Trip up the Bay.—Serious Illness of some Innuits. —Starvation.—A good Harbor.—Eating Ducks raw.—Arrival on Board.—Author's Plans for exploring.—Leaves the Ship.—Takes up his Abode with the Natives.—The George Henry departs.—Author's Visit to the Rescue's Hull.—Arctic Robins.—Unexpected Return of the Ship.—Ebierbing sick.—Jennie, the Angeko. —Practice of Ankooting.—Philosophy of the Operation.—Opening for Missionary Enterprise.—Pemmican, best Mode of preparing it.—Author Visits the Ship.— Returns to Whale Island.—Ankooting again.—Solemnity of the Company present. Superstition.—Nice Distinction as to what is Work.—Final Visit to the Ship.—Natives' Doubts removed.—Crew completed.—The Fashions.--Suzhi the heaviest Innuit.—Preparations for the Boat Voyage nearly made. On Wednesday morning, the 17th of July, 1861, we were delighted to find that our ship had broken from her eight months' imprisonment during the past night, and now swung to her chains in the tidal waters of Rescue Harbor. But it was only in a pool she was free. Ice still intervened between our anchorage and the main bay, and we could do nothing but wait yet longer with whatever patience we could command. I myself was getting quite impatient. Time was passing on, and no chance yet of fered for my going away on one or other of my intended explo rations. What could I do? I was, at times, as if crazy; and only a walk on some island, where I could examine and survey, or a visit to my Innuit friends, helped to soothe me. But the reader will feel little interest in all this; I will therefore pass on to some other incidents of my voyage. Ebierbing had been out one day with dogs and sledge where the ice was still firm, when suddenly a seal was noticed ahead. |