Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/136

 circumstance, and from the greater distance to which the spruce-trees extended, that we were now following a more westerly branch of the river than that by which Sir John Franklin descended. At 10 o'clock we landed to breakfast, and to examine the circumjacent country. It embraced rich and extensive meadows, enamelled with flowers, intersected by the river channels, and covered with deserted wooden huts of the Esquimaux. This open tract seems much frequented in summer by moose and reindeer. One of the former appeared at no great distance on an island, and, after scanning us for an instant, trotted off at a great rate. Scarcely had we made these remarks, when we perceived a single kayak gliding down the stream. Its conductor, after indulging for a while in noise and gesticulation, landed on the opposite bank, laid his canoe on the beach, pulled off his boots and habiliments, and seemed inclined for a run. But on our shouting the well-known "teyma," and hoisting a flag, he changed his mind, and, resuming his deer-skin shirt, paddled fearlessly across. He was a good-looking, athletic, middle-aged man, and soon gave us to understand, by words helped out by signs, that he was