That we might incommode the Esquimaux as little
as possible, we divided into parties of two in each tent, though they
would willingly have accommodated twice that number. Immediately on our
arrival they offered us dry boots, and it was not long before we were
entirely "rigged out" in their dresses, which, thoroughly drenched as we
were by the sea, proved no small comfort to us. With these, and a
sealskin or two as a blanket, we kept ourselves tolerably warm during a
most inclement night; and the tents, which but a few hours before we had
looked upon as the most comfortless habitations imaginable, now afforded
us a sufficient and most acceptable shelter.
The evening was passed in dealing out our information from the
southward, and never did any arrival excite more anxious inquiries than
those we were now obliged to answer. So intimate was the knowledge we
possessed respecting many of their relationships, that, by the help of a
memorandum-book in which these had been inserted, I believe we almost at
times excited a degree of superstitious alarm in their minds. This sort
of gossip, and incessant chattering and laughing, continued till near
midnight, when the numerous visitors in our tents began to retire to
their own and to leave us to our repose.
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