Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/130

 desperately wounded, by the Esquimaux in the preceding month. This unhappy quarrel precluded the prosecution of a design, which we had formed, of taking two of the Loucheux with us to the coast as substitutes for Esquimaux interpreters; although the men who had been applied to by Mr. Bell were desirous of accompauying us at all risks. These people are distinguished from every other Indian tribe with which we are acquainted by the frankness and candour of their demeanour. Their bold countenances give expression to their filings, and a bloody intent with them lurks not under a smile. Among the aborigines of North America, the Loucheux alone have never imbrued their hands in the blood of the whites. They amused us during the night with their dances, which abound in extravagant gestures, and demand violent exertion. The Hare Indians afterwards exhibited theirs, in which many of the younger women joined; whilst the old ones got up a crying-match, at a little distance, for some relative whom they had recently lost.

On the 5th, we had a conference with the Loucheux, in which we declined their reiterated offers to send two, or more, of their number with us along the sea-coast, assigning the late murders as the cause of this resolution. At the same