Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/195

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

baidar, and undoubtedly for the first time assailed the ears of our auditory. These evinced their love of harmony, indifferent as it was, by instantly relinquishing their sports, bending their heads down to the water, and beating on their breasts, whilst their little sparkling eyes shewed the gratification they felt. The Loucheux possess the same sensibility, and have often entreated Mr. Dease to entertain them with his violin. The morose Chipewyans, on the other hand, seemed almost devoid of this taste, and their only attempts at singing are borrowed from the Crees. We landed for supper beside a brook of fresh water; a very unfrequent object on this frozen, mud-walled coast, where our drink was usually drawn from the icebergs. Our savage companions were in high spirits, and repeated to me a number of their words, most of which correspond with those given in the journal of Sir Edward Parry's second voyage, or vary only in the termination; but a few are entirely different. The sun set at a quarter to 11.

Sunday, 6th.—Our route was resumed a few minutes after midnight, much against the inclination of the Esquimaux, who wanted to sleep. At Point Tangent we found two other lodges, which had sprung up since we passed on foot. The inmates had evidently been at our boats,