The woman
was a daughter of "Prince Albert," a man of considerable influence in
his tribe, and I understood that his power was due to superior
intelligence and sagacity. In fact, all those whom we met at this time
seemed much superior in intelligence to those who came aboard at the
Lower Savage Islands. They were cleaner, but by a mere trifle, and
showed improvement from contact with civilization. They usually
preferred to array themselves in some part of the costume of white
people, though not by any means particular in wearing it as white
people do. One of the men was a young fellow known as "Jim," who, the
captain thought, would be a desirable acquisition to our party to go to
King William Land, and Joe made the proposition to him. He regarded the
matter favorably, and was particularly interested when he saw some of
our fine rifles. His father was an old man, called "The Doctor," who
was dependent upon his son. After giving our guests breakfast and a few
presents we bade them good-by, and set sail for Depot Island, where we
arrived about four o'clock in the afternoon.
The lookout from the mast-head saw some boats coming from the
main-land, and presently three kyacks, an omien, and two whale-boats
came alongside, bringing about fifty people, including men, women,
and children. Among them were Armow and his two half-brothers, Ik-omer
(Fire) and Too-goo-lan.
Pages:
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35