Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/118

 CHAPTER V.

to our anchoring, Captain Allen, Mates Lamb and Gardiner, joined us on deck, bringing with them an Esquimaux named Ugarng, and others of his people. Several women were also on board, dressed in the peculiar costume of the West Land natives; but not until we had dropped anchor could I do more than give a passing glance at these strange-looking figures. The excitement consequent upon arriving in a new place was naturally great on my mind. The land around me—its inhabitants, its rugged hills, its mountain tops covered with snow, all belonged to that especial part of the northern regions connected with the ultimate field of my labours. When, however, the vessel was made stationary, and the greatest excitement had abated, I could better examine our visitors, and never shall I forget the first impression they made upon me.

It has been said by a well-known witty writer, now deceased, when referring to the Esquimaux, in an arctic book he was reviewing, that they are "singular composite beings—a link between Saxons and seals—hybrids, putting the seals' bodies into their own, and then encasing their skins in the seals, thus walking to and fro, a compound formation. A transverse section would discover them to be stratified like a rolly-polly pudding, only, instead of jam and paste, if their VOL. I.