Numberless
instances of a similar kind occurred in the course of our
subsequent communication with them, some of which I shall
hereafter have an opportunity of relating.
After remaining with them a couple of hours, and proposing to
spend the following day among them, we set out on our return to
the ships. Being desirous of trying their disposition to part with
their children, I proposed to buy a fine lad, named _Toolooak_,
for the very valuable consideration of a handsome butcher's knife.
His father, apparently understanding our meaning, joyfully
accepted the knife, and the boy ran into the hut to fetch his
mittens, which seemed to be all that he cared for in leaving his
home. He then set off with us in high spirits, and at first
assisted in drawing a sledge we had purchased to carry our things;
but as he began, by our additional signs, more clearly to
comprehend our true meaning, he gradually relaxed in his zeal to
accompany our party, and, being afterward overtaken by a number of
his companions, he took an opportunity to slink off among some
hummocks of ice, so that, when we arrived on board, Toolooak was
missing.
On our reaching the ships, these people expressed much less
surprise and curiosity than might naturally have been expected on
their first visit, which may, perhaps, in some measure, be
attributed to their being in reality a less noisy kind of people
than most of the Esquimaux to whom we had before been accustomed.
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