We then endeavoured
to explain to Iligliuk that every seventh day they must not come
to the ships, for, without any intention of offending, they had
become rather an annoyance in this way. They now brought with them
a great many little canoes and paddles, sledges, figures of men
and women; and other toys, most of them already bespoke by the
officers and men, and the rest for sale.
Toolooak, who now considered himself as quite privileged to find
his way into the cabin without a conductor, and was not backward
in thus practising his newly-acquired art of opening and shutting
the door, sat with me for a couple of hours on the 18th, quietly
drawing faces and animals, an occupation to which he took a great
fancy; and we often were reminded, by this circumstance, of a
similar propensity displayed by his amiable countryman, our
lamented friend John Sackhouse. We soon found that Toolooak
possessed a capacity equal to anything he chose to take an
interest in learning; and could he, at his present age, have been
voluntarily removed from his companions, and his attention
directed to the acquirement of higher branches of knowledge than
that of catching seals, he would have amply repaid any pains
bestowed upon his education.
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