Page:Narrative of the Discoveries on the North Coast of America.djvu/376

346 an elderly man, named Awallook, who went on crutches from a dislocated joint; a fine young lad, his son; and a very stout man, about six feet high, with brown beard, and a countenance that would have been noble, were it not disfigured by a hideous wen on the temple. Notwithstanding Ooligbuck's assurances, they approached us with fear and trembling; and the first words they uttered were, "We are afraid." We caused them to sit down, and made them what little presents we could spare, and offered them some of our own fare—pemican—which they tasted, but immediately rejected as disagreeable to their palates; though they told us, at the same time, that they were badly off for food. Though the evening was very cold, they declined drawing close to our fire of drift wood; it would, indeed, have been contrary to their habits, for, from custom or necessity, these eastern Esquimaux never seem to think of fire as a means of imparting warmth. If these poor people were not far more industrious, provident, and ingenious than the Indian tribes of the interior, they could not exist in their bleak and barren country. The information they could give us regarding the coast and inland country amounted to little or nothing; the limits of their annual journeys being Berens' Isles, where they always pass the winter seal-hunting,