forecastle did not fail to return. As soon as they got on board they
expressed extreme joy at seeing us again, repeated each of our names
with great earnestness, and were, indeed, much gratified by this
unexpected encounter. Ewerat being now mounted on the plank which goes
across the gunwales of our ships for conning them conveniently among the
ice, explained, in a very clear and pilot-like manner, that the island
which we observed to lie off Cape Wilson was that marked by Iligliuk in
one of her charts, and there called _Awlikteewik_, pronounced by Ewerat
_Ow-l=itt~ee-week_. On asking how many days' journey it was still to
Amitioke, they all agreed in saying ten; and back to Winter Island
_oon=o=oktoot_ (a great many), so that we had good reason to hope we
were not far from the former place. I may at once remark, however, that
great caution is requisite in judging of the information these people
give of the distances from one place to another, as expressed by the
number of _se=eniks_ (sleeps) or days' journeys, to which, in other
countries, a definite value is affixed. No two Esquimaux will give the
same account in this respect, though each is equally desirous of
furnishing correct information; for, besides their deficiency as
arithmeticians, which renders the enumeration of ten a labour, and of
fifteen almost an impossibility to many of them, each individual forms
his idea of the distance according to the season of the year, and,
consequently, the mode of travelling in which his own journey has been
performed. Instances of this kind will be observed in the charts of the
Esquimaux, in which they not only differ from each other in this
respect, but the same individual differs from himself at different
times. It is only, therefore, by a careful comparison of the various
accounts, and by making allowances for the different circumstances under
which the journeys have been made, that these apparent inconsistencies
can be reconciled, and an approximation to the truth obtained.