Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/13

viii To make himself competent for this more interesting and important research, the author patiently acquired the language and familiarized himself with the habits of the Esquimaux, and he now returns to their country able to speak with them, to live among them, and to support his life in the same manner that they do theirs; to migrate with them from place to place, and to traverse and patiently explore all the region in which it is reasonable to suppose Franklin's crew travelled and perished. The two intelligent Esquimaux, Ebierbing and Tookoolito, who accompanied the author on his return home, after remaining with him for two years, go back with him on this second voyage. The author enters upon this undertaking with lively hopes of success; he will not, like most previous explorers, set his foot on shore for a few days or weeks, or, like others, journey among men whose language is unintelligible: but he will again live for two or three years among the Esquimaux, and gain their confidence, with the advantage of understanding the language, and of making all his wishes known to them.

The author cannot close without offering his thanks to the Artists for the beautiful and accurate drawings made by them, under his own eye, from his rough sketches; and to the Engravers and Printers for their constant forbearance in the trouble he gave them, unaccustomed as he was to literary labours, yet anxious to obtain the utmost exactness in his narrative.

C. F. H.