to camp, and many pressing invitations were extended to us to spend the night at the village, it was thought wisest for the moral well-being of our party not to do so. Besides this, the surface of the country in the neighborhood of the village was exceedingly rough, being formed entirely of boulders. The Eskimo topicks were pitched upon the rocky shore, and it was thought we might find smoother ground. Before leaving the village one old Eskimo surprised us very much by making a remark in English. I said to him, "Oh! you understand English," whereat he made the amusing reply, "No, me no understand English." I tried then to find out from the old man where he had learned to speak our language, but the only reply I could get from him was that he had always been able to speak it. It may be that he had accompanied Sir George Back, Sir John Richardson, or Dr. Ray, on one of their Franklin search expeditions, or perhaps he had come from Hudson Bay, where he had been associated with some of the American whalers who frequent its waters.
Followed by many hearty cheers and "tabowetees" (farewells), we parted from our new but warm-hearted friends. As before, we were accompanied by an escort of kyacks, but after a time they fell behind and returned to the village.
As we had been informed by the natives, so we soon found, we were at last at the mouth of the great Telzoa, and gradually as we passed out into the broad shallow delta and gazed over the deep blue limitless waters beyond, the gratifying fact forced itself upon us that we had accomplished what we had started out to do, viz., to explore a route through the heart of the Barren Lands,
