Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/139

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CHAPTER V.

Voyage from Mackenzie River to Franklin's Return Reef.—Adventures among Esquimaux and Ice.—Discovery of the Franklin Mountains.


July 9th.—We had almost lost sight of Tent Island when we discovered several kayaks paddling swiftly after us. As the wind was now decreasing, the canoes, nineteen in number, soon came up with us. It required little encouragement to bring the Esquimaux alongside, when each man received a knife, a file, some rings, beads, and awls. They then became importunate to trade for their bows and arrows, darts, lip-ornaments, in fact, everything they had. We had no desire to enter into this kind of traffic; but, to quiet them, we traded for a few of those articles. One lively youngster attracted our notice by his activity in the noisy barter. He shot his arrows and lance repeatedly on the water, to shew us their excellence; at the same time shouting "Neittuke," and "Took-took"—the