Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/150

Rh opportunity. Meanwhile I tried all in my power to persuade Koojesse to go with me, without delay, to King William's Land, but in vain. Earlier in the season he would have gone; now it was too late. I had, therefore, no alternative but to wait until the following spring.

At midnight there was a fine display of the aurora borealis, or rather aurora australis, for the direction in which the lights appeared was south, not north of us. The barometer stood at 30&middot;05; thermometer, 32°; wind, moderate N.W. and the sky "clear as a bell." I took on deck two delicate compasses to observe if they would be affected by the lights, but they were not in the least. The display was really beautiful; the streams darting up like lightning, and passing the zenith. Some banks of light were so thick that the stars behind were obscured, even those of the first magnitude.

The following day we had a visit from Artarkparu, who, I find, is brother to Allokee, the man whose grave I had noticed. Artarkparu had a single brass button, as an ornament, pendent from his skin coat. The device on it was a bee with expanded wings, and the motto, "Vive ut vivas."

A young man Esquimaux, whom we called Napoleon, from a resemblance in features to Bonaparte, used to visit us daily, dressed in a blue military coat minus the tail (which had been completely torn off), and with a row of big brass buttons running over each shoulder and down in front. The device on these buttons was three cannon on carriages, with a crown for the crest.

Another comical sight was a fat Esquimaux woman who appeared among us dressed in an old calico curtain put on over her seal-skin suit. The number of natives now visiting us was very great, but it was made a rule that all except a privileged few should leave the ship at 8 During the day much trade was carried on in bartering for skins, walrus tusks, &c. One pair of tusks measured full twenty-six inches in length. The skull of the walrus is very firm and thick. No rifle-ball would have the least effect on it. I have specimens that will show this. Rh