Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/301

 CHAPTER XVIII.

a week after my return to the ship nothing especially worthy of note occurred. An extract from my diary of May 25th, 1862, will show that I was reasonably certain of having Innuit companions on my return to the United States: "Ebierbing and his nuliana, Tookoolito, will return here in season to accompany me to America. I am to take them for the purpose of having them accompany me on a future expedition to King William's Land. I hope, after what I have done here in the North in the way of explorations, in discovering relics of Frobisher's expeditions of near three centuries ago, and in determining the probable fate of the five of his company that were kidnapped here, I shall have no insurmountable obstacle to overcome in preparing for that voyage which I still have at heart—the voyage to King William's Land and Boothia—to investigate all the facts relative to Sir John Franklin's expedition while in the vicinity of the places named. That the Innuits are still living who know all about the mysterious termination of that expedition I have not the shadow of a doubt. What is requisite is to visit those regions, get acquainted with and establish friendly relations among the Innuits there, become