Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 1.djvu/160

Rh remaining stone was feldspar; that which had been eaten out—a stratum of five feet thick—was composed of mica and a small proportion of quartz. The distance excavated in some places could not have been less than three or four fathoms! At first it seemed decidedly venturesome to go under this rock shed; but, on witnessing the firmness of the feldspar, its immense height, length, and breadth, it restored my confidence.

I greatly enjoyed my walk, and returned on board without mishap by the evening.

On the 10th of September we were visited by some newcomers—an Esquimaux called Tes-su-win, and his family and boat's crew. They had left Ookoolear—Cornelius Grinnell Bay—on the previous day, bringing a letter from Captain Allen, of the Black Eagle, which vessel was still where we had left her on the 16th of August, when sailing for this place. The number in Tessuwin's boat was eleven, including four females. He had with him his wife, Neu-er-ar-ping, and a sister's child called Og-big, meaning whale. Tessuwin and his wife had both been to Fox Channel from Kemmisuite, in Northumberland Inlet, and the information they gave me concerning those parts, and all around the Frobisher waters, was very interesting, fully confirming the other reports. Tessuwin had often seen, and, with many others, visited in his kia the Hudson's Bay Company's ships, as they passed up Hudson's Strait. He said that very few Innuits now dwelt on Kingaite (Meta Incognita), and nearly all the native inhabitants were fast dying off.

Soon after Tessuwin's arrival another boat from Captain Tyson's ship, then at the same place as the Black Eagle, came on board, and after a stay of two days returned, taking back several of the natives, among whom was Kookoodlear, the young wife of one of the George Henry's hired Esquimaux crew. Tessuwin left us on the 15th, he having engaged himself and family to Captain Allen for the whaling season.

A few days after this, on the 18th, we were much surprised at the sight of a vessel coming up the bay, and soon afterward we ascertained she was the Georgiana, Captain Tyson.