Page:Life with the Esquimaux - 1864 - Volume 2.djvu/49

30 of going to King William's Land, then I must delay—I must lose one year in returning to the States and prepare again for the voyage that I am still determined to make, God willing. I will refer in my journal to this subject again." Among the Innuits staying at the whale dépôt was the woman Puto, mother of the semi-white child. This poor woman was very badly off, her husband being dead, and she had but scant means of providing for herself and offspring. Seeing her sad condition, I gave her several trinkets, and, in addition, a box of 100 percussion caps. This latter present caused her to weep for joy. She knew not how enough to thank me. With them she could trade among her people for many conveniences she wanted. Anything in the way of ammunition is thought more of by the Innuits than almost any other articles that could be named. At this time the weather was fine, and the view of Kingaite, with its miles and miles of mountain wall, its glaciers, and its snows, was grand indeed. More than ever was I desirous of exploring that coast; and I thought that, even if nothing else could be done, I might possibly examine some of the places made famous by Frobisher's voyages in 1576, '7, and '8. "Bear Sound" was but a short distance to the eastward, and the second day after my arrival at the whale dépôt, I took with me "Captain" (Kokerjabin's youngest son), and walked toward it. But he proved only a hindrance to me. I had to go full fifteen miles to reach a point of land not more than two and a half miles in a direct line. I was obliged to make for the head of Chapell Inlet by first wading through some soft, wet snow, that covered shore-ice and the land on my way. Then I had to make a long circuit around some stones and rocks, and afterward ascend hill after hill, going through valleys full of snow soft and deep enough to cover my whole body. But wherever I went, small pieces of limestone were in abundance, even to the very mountain-tops. At length I arrived at my destination on the west side of Bear Sound. There—beside those waters, on whose shores Frobisher and his men had laboured for the mineral wealth