There was,
besides, a degree of lankness in the faces of the two men, the
very reverse of the plump, round, oily cheeks of those we had
before seen. Their countenances at the time impressed me with the
idea of Indian rather than of Esquimaux features; but this variety
of physiognomy we afterward found not to be uncommon among these
people. The men appeared about forty and twenty-two years of age,
and were accompanied by a good-looking and good-humoured boy of
nine or ten. They each held in their hand a sealskin case or
quiver, containing a bow and three or four arrows, with a set of
which they willingly parted, on being presented with a knife in
exchange. The first looks with which they received us betrayed a
mixture of stupidity and apprehension, but both wore off in a few
minutes on our making them understand that we wished to go to
their habitations. With this request they complied without
hesitation, tripping along before us for above two miles over very
rough ground, and crossing one or two considerable streams running
from a lake into the sea. This they performed with so much
quickness that we could with difficulty keep up with them, though
they good-naturedly stopped now and then till we overtook them. We
were met on our way by two women, from twenty to twenty-five years
of age, having each a child at her back; they too accompanied us
to their tent, which was situated on a high part of the coast
overlooking the sea.
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