One of
the younger men then came forward, and was lifting up the stretcher
of their boat to strike our people, who were good-humouredly
laughing at the old man's violence, when I thought it high time to
interpose, and, raising a boat-hook over the head of the Esquimaux,
as if about to strike them, soon brought them into a cooler mood;
after which, to prevent farther altercation, I ordered our people
out of the boat. We had by this time succeeded in purchasing all
the oil brought by the first canoes; and as the old fellow, who was
commanding officer of the _oomiak_, obstinately persisted in his
refusal to sell his, I ordered him away, when he immediately rowed
to the Hecla, and, as I was afterward informed by Captain Lyon,
sold his oil for less than he might have obtained at first. Four
other _oomiaks_ afterward came from the shore, from which we were
distant five or six miles. Each of these contained from fourteen to
twenty-six persons, the majority being females and young children.
Upon the whole, not less than one hundred of the natives visited
the ships in the course of the evening.
These people possessed in an eminent degree the disposition to
steal all they could lay their hands on, which has almost
universally been imputed to every tribe of Esquimaux hitherto
visited by Europeans.
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